The Trade Deficit and Exchange Rates

Since the U.S. Dollar is weak, shouldnt that imply we export more than we import (i.e., foreigners get a good exchange rate making US goods relatively cheap)? So why does the U.S. have an enormous trade deficit? Trade Balance, Surplus, and Deficit Parkin and Bades Economics Second Edition defines trade balance as: The value of all the goods and services we sell to other countries (exports) minus the value of all the goods and services we buy from foreigners (imports) is called our trade balance If the value of the trade balance is positive, we have a trade surplus and we export more than we import (in dollar terms). A trade deficit is just the opposite; it occurs when the trade balance is negative and the value of what we import is more than the value of what we export. The United States has had a trade deficit for over the last ten years, though the size of the deficit has varied during that period. We know from A Beginners Guide to Exchange Rates and the Foreign Exchange Market that changes in exchange rates can greatly impact various parts of the economy. This was later confirmed in A Beginners Guide to Purchasing Power Parity Theory where we saw that a fall in the exchange rates will cause foreigners to buy more of our goods and us to buy less foreign goods. So theory tells us that when the value of the U.S. Dollar falls relative to other currencies, the U.S. should enjoy a trade surplus, or at least a smaller trade deficit. If we look at the U.S. Balance of trade data, this doesnt seem to be happening. The U.S. Census Bureau keeps extensive data on U.S. trade. The trade deficit does not appear to be getting smaller, as shown by their data. Here is the size of the trade deficit for the twelve months from November 2002 to October 2003. Nov. 2002 (38,629)Dec. 2002 (42,332)Jan. 2003 (40,035)Feb. 2003 (38,617)Mar. 2003 (42,979)Apr. 2003 (41,998)May. 2003 (41,800)Jun. 2003 (40,386)Jul. 2003 (40,467)Aug. 2003 (39,605)Sep. 2003 (41,341)Oct. 2003 (41,773) Is there any way we can reconcile the fact that the trade deficit is not decreasing with the fact that the U.S. Dollar has been greatly devalued? A good first step would be to identify who the U.S. is trading with. U.S. Census Bureau data gives the following trade figures (imports exports) for the year 2002: Canada ($371 B)Mexico ($232 B)Japan ($173 B)China ($147 B)Germany ($89 B)U.K. ($74 B)South Korea ($58 B)Taiwan ($36 B)France ($34 B)Malaysia ($26 B) The United States has a few key trading partners such as Canada, Mexico, and Japan. If we look at the exchange rates between the United States and these countries, perhaps we will have a better idea of why the United States continues to have a large trade deficit despite a rapidly declining dollar. We examine American trade with four major trading partners and see if those trading relationships can explain the trade deficit:

Inventories and Cost of Goods Sold Essay Example

Essays on Inventories and Cost of Goods Sold Essay The paper "Inventories and Cost of Goods Sold" is a great example of an essay on finance and accounting. Students face difficulty in understanding the difference between the physical flow of inventory and the cost flow assumption because the cash flow does not consider taxes in its computations unlike the physical flow of inventory (Greenberg Wilner, 2011). This arises because taxes are not permanently reduced, but deferred. It implies that the reduced amount will still be remitted to the tax authorities after the decrease in the cost of inventory. It is also apparent that the deferred tax owed by an organization is beneficial during inflationary periods since it reduces net income. Another reason that causes confusion between the physical flow of inventory and the cost flow is the earnings in which costs are charged off against current revenues (Greenberg Wilner, 2011). This takes place during inflationary periods when prices of goods are high and the company tends to reduce its c osts by hiking charges. It is also evident that the cost flow assumption is different from the physical flow of the products because a firm can turn around inventory through the sale of its oldest units first and then run the overheads using LIFO or weighted average (Greenberg Wilner, 2011). This suggests that firms normally switch cost flow assumption from FIFO to LIFO during inflation. As a result, spreading the current higher overhead costs into the cost of goods sold (COGS) on the income statement and tax return reveals a positive net income and less payable returns. In this regard, the disparity evident between the physical flow of inventory and the cost flow assumption relates to the taxes and net income that a firm attains to achieve when prices are higher in the market (Greenberg Wilner, 2011).

The DaVinci Code Free Essays

The Da Vinci Code is creation of Dan Brown’s mental regime or a fact. It is for the people to decide whether these theories belong to Brown’s imagination or the skeleton of ‘facts’ that supports the book. The early church history just can’t stay out of the news. We will write a custom essay sample on The DaVinci Code or any similar topic only for you Order Now The DaVinci Code contains many more claims about Christianity’s historic origins and theological development. Almost every thing our fathers told about Christ is false. Brown argues a single meeting of bishops in 325, at the city of Nicea in modern-day Turkey. There, church leaders who wanted to consolidate their power base created a divine Christ and an infallible Scripture-both novelties that had never before existed among Christians. One of the key points put forward by Brown as Da Vinci code truth is that the Bible cannot be trusted. Certain portions of the literature that Brown proclaimed as ‘Bible’ do have fallacies. The early books called the Gnostic Gospels often disagree with the inspired gospels of God’s Word. The Da Vinci Code novel involves a conspiracy by the Catholic Church to cover up the â€Å"true† story of Jesus. In the book, the Vatican knows it is living a lie but continues to do so to keep itself in power. The novel has helped generate popular interest in speculation concerning the Holy Grail legend and the role of Mary Magdalene in the history of Christianity. Fans have lauded the book as creative, action-packed and thought-provoking. Critics have attacked it as poorly written, inaccurate and creating confusion between speculation and fact. From a religious point of view, some critics consider it sacrilegious, and decry the many negative implications about the Catholic Church and Opus Dei. Negating any deep rooted belief after 20 centuries is very difficult, if we see the other side of story. It is more difficult for those who have attained certain level in spiritual world through Christianity. It is a matter of debate as who were the gainer-Bishops or society. Christianity is just a path or media to gain spiritualism. It is not important which path you choose to gain spiritualism. Christianity or any religion in the world is for betterment and to provide a clean society. Sanctity of the Bible; Incomplete input gives out a wrong output The Bible’s composition and consolidation may appear a bit too human for the comfort of some Christians; Brown claims â€Å"the Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven† In The Da Vinci Code, Brown apparently adopts Arius as his representative for all pre-Nicene Christianity. In reality, early Christians overwhelmingly worshipped Jesus Christ as their risen Saviour and Lord. Before the church adopted comprehensive doctrinal creeds, early Christian leaders developed a set of instructional summaries of belief, termed the â€Å"Rule† or â€Å"Canon† of Faith, which affirmed this truth. With the Bible playing a central role in Christianity, Brown claims that Constantine commissioned and bankrolled a staff to manipulate existing texts and thereby divinize the human Christ.. But some people may argue; at this stage, it is impossible to collect sufficient input to arrive on any concrete conclusion. It’s a universal fact that none of us has seen Jesus Christ. It is hard to believe unless we witness. We draw a conclusion based on available inputs, which may further have many variables. Bible’s composition and consolidation was necessary to communicate many and into its correct form. Bible draws a line between rights and wrongs, Do’s and Don’ts or in other words it provides a proven track for the people to follow and help them to take their own judgment in day to day life. People are wondering if Brown’s book contains Da Vinci truth. The introductory note of the book says, â€Å"all descriptions of documents and secret rituals are accurate. † Is this a true statement? Is there such a thing as Da Vinci Code truth? So how much of The Da Vinci Code is truth? When asked how much of his book is based on â€Å"reality in terms of things that actually occurred,† author Dan Brown said, â€Å"Absolutely all of it. Although Brown claims that the book is filled with truths, the people must keep in mind that this claim is included in the first paragraphs of a fiction book. Even claims that something is true, when found in a fiction book, are still fiction. If Brown had truly wanted to enlighten the world about his true nature of Jesus and the Catholic Church, he would have done so in a non-fiction setting. Why then did Brown assert in interviews that the information contained within his book was true? Booming of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ and Christianity; A logical analysis The Da Vinci Code proves that some misguided theories never entirely fade away. They just reappear periodically in a different disguise. Brown’s claims resemble those of Arius and his numerous heirs throughout history, who have contradicted the united testimony of the apostles and the early church they built. Those witnesses have always attested that Jesus Christ was and remains God himself. It didn’t take an ancient council to make this true. And the pseudo historical claims of a modern novel can’t make it false. Some Christians have optimistically hoped that The Da Vinci Code might provide a potential opportunity for dialogue and discussion about Jesus with people who might not otherwise be open to such discussions. Booming of Da Vinci code may have many reasons. It may not be wise to correlate its sale to acceptance of the people- for some people it’s a novel, some want to analyze and do the self assessment of their faith and for some it may be of academic interest. Threat to Christianity is beyond imagination. The reason being; the very first question is about existence of God. If the answer is ‘No’ then there may arise millions of questions to which today’s world still in search of an answer. If the answer is ‘Yes’ then there has to be certain rule and requires source and some media to communicate. Unless, the source is either ‘Supernatural’ or ‘Super human’, it is hard for the people to rely on it. We find Jesus Christ exactly fits into this place. Therefore The Da Vinci code can never ever be a threat to Christianity. References 1) Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code; Doubleday (USA); 2003 2) The Da Vinci Code, Special Illustrated Edition, Doubleday; November 2, 2004, How to cite The DaVinci Code, Papers

Amazing Grace by Celtic Thunder free essay sample

Amazing Grace is sang by Celtic Thunder for their Christmas show that they did. The song has been popular in the country of Ireland for more than a century. Its a Christian hymn that was published in 1779 and written by John Newton. Its also a song thats been recorded by many other singers too. Including: Andre Rieu, Celtic Woman, Elvis Presley, Il Divo, and Elvis Presley. Amazing Grace appears on their DVD Christmas and their CD Its Entertainment. Ive listened to a bunch of versions of Amazing Grace but I think that their version is the best out of any of the others Ive listened to. Its my favorite version because I just love how Damians newly deep voice is featured in the song. Also, I just love how they all harmonize during the song too. You can actually find their version of the song on their YouTube channel titled Thundertube. We will write a custom essay sample on Amazing Grace by Celtic Thunder or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Their video of them singing actually went viral too.

The color purple and Girl Essay Example For Students

The color purple and Girl Essay Celies first great and enduring female relationship is with her younger sister, Nettie. Such is the bond between the two sisters that when their stepfather threatens to rape Nettie, Celie offers herself in her place. Celies life of drudgery and sexual degradation continues into her married life with Albert, a man who she initially fears so much she can only refer to him as Mr. He treats her like a slave and he does his best to end the sisters relationship by intercepting Netties letters. Walkers portrayal of Celie emphasises the hardships of life that a woman can experience and overcome. We will write a custom essay on The color purple and Girl specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now In contrast, she depicts Nettie, who becomes an African missionary, as a woman who is more of a feminist and is more aware of the harsh realities of a patriarchal society. Through her letters Nettie tries to guide Celie and make her realise that she deserves a better life. She highlights the cultural differences and the similarities between American and African society. The Olinka women she works with seem happy to share their husbands with each other and their lives centre around work, their children and their relationships with each other since, a woman cannot really have a man for a friend without the worst kind of ostracism and gossip6. In a similar way, Celie shares her husband with Shug Avery, works on the land and in the home and has a group of female friends. The sisters are both first person narrators and Walker clearly shows that they write as an act of faith, keeping up their spirits and reaching out to each other, confiding in each other, educating each other and supporting each other through the difficult times. Blues singer, Shug Avery, is the love of Celies life and also her husbands mistress. However, it is clear, long before Celie meets Shug, that she prefers men to women, I look at women, tho, cause Im not scared of them7. Celie becomes besotted with a photograph of Shug, An now when I dream, I dream of Shug Avery8. They eventually meet and fall in love, beginning an on-off long-term lesbian relationship. Shug is a talented, independent woman and shows Celie an escape route from the drudgery of her life. She shows her that if she wants to be treated well and with respect she needs to stand up for herself. Celie only feels truly sexually loved after her discovery of lesbian pleasures, marking another step towards her independence. As she gains more self-confidence from being with Shug, she confronts Albert, You a lowdown dog is whats wrong, I say. Its time to leave you and enter into the Creation. And your dead body is just the welcome mat I need. 9 Another ally is strong-minded and strong-bodied Sofia. At first Celie is envious of Sofias intelligence, confidence and independence and dislikes her pity of her and so betrays her by advising her husband, Harpo to beat her. The next time she sees him he is battered and bruised and it is clear that Sofia stood up for herself and hit him back. Celie feels guilty of her betrayal and Sofia is furious but they are able to talk and clear the air and they laugh together when Sofia advises Celia to, bash Mr. head open10. To cement their friendship, they begin to work on a quilt from the messed up curtains11 Celie made for Sofia when she got married. This traditional quilt is symbolic of womens solidarity with each patch representing a woman on its own small and insignificant but when bound together creating a strong unity and sense of togetherness. Another reference comes when Mr. and his brother, Tobias, are on the porch with Celie and Sofia, who are quilting. .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1 , .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1 .postImageUrl , .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1 , .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1:hover , .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1:visited , .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1:active { border:0!important; } .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1:active , .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1 .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ua2914bb0dd29d72eb103159b4bb3d3f1:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Martin Luther King Jr EssayShug enters to hear the two men belittling all the women they know. She joins in with the quilting and her action places her firmly united with Sofia and Celie. Theres little doubt this quilt, with the pattern Sisters Choice, and its message, will be passed on to daughters and granddaughters. When Sophia is sent to prison her network of female friends rally round to help and support her. That she survives her imprisonment, separation from her children and subsequent enslavement is a testament to this support and her own personal strength. One of her main allies during this period is Mary Agnes and this is another female character that grows in strength throughout the story and achieves her dream. Celies growing independence is emphasised when she starts to wear pants, previously a men-only garment, and her financial independence is secured when she starts her own successful tailoring business, Folkspants, Unlimited. When Nettie eventually returns home, reuniting Celie with her children that Alfonso had taken away from her so many years ago, Celies life is complete. Both stories are about the passing on of experience and whilst the reader never knows if Kincaids Girl took the advice offered, in The Colour Purple, the reader sees the evidence of feminine advice and support being given and taken like the Olinka women the women are friends and will do anything for one another12. 1503 words. References: 1. Carter, A. (ed) (1986) Wayward Girls and Wicked Women, Virago, pp. 326-7, Girl by Kincaid, Jamaica 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 4. Walker, Alice, (1983) The Colour Purple, The Womens Press Limited 1983, p. 3 5. Ibid., p. 3 6. Ibid. , p. 141 7. Ibid. , p. 7 8. Ibid. , p. 8 9. Ibid. , p. 170 10. Ibid. , p. 39 11. Ibid. , p. 39 12. Ibid. , p. 141 Bibliography: Carter, A. (ed) (1986) Wayward Girls and Wicked Women, Virago, pp. 326-7, Girl by Kincaid, Jamaica Goodman, Lizbeth (ed) (1996) Approaching Literature: Literature and Gender, Routledge in association with The Open University, Milton Keynes Padley, Steve (ed) (2001) Approaching Prose Fiction, The Open University, Milton Keynes Walker, Alice, (1983) The Colour Purple, The Womens Press Limited 1983, London.

Free Essays on Lifes Changes

Freedom . . . what’s the cost? Differences between high school and college affect many aspects of a students life. Throughout a student’s high school career their parents are always there to provide constant guidance, and support. When a student enters college, they have more control of their activities, and their parents are not there to guide them. The student is forced to decide for himselfherself and manage hisher own time. College life is better than high school because it offers more freedom, although there are more responsibilities, and a more complicated work load. College offers more freedom but with it comes increased responsibilities, and a more complicated workload. High school students experience many restrictions from their parents where as a college student is on hisher own so hisher parents do not have the chance to restrict hisher activities. Often during high school parents require their children to come home from parties or get togethers early, so that they don’t keep their parents up worrying when their going to come home. College students on the other hand no longer live with their parents so a student’s parents do not know when they come in or what they are doing. This freedom extends to class attendance too. In high school the school keeps track of a student’s attendance and reports any absences to the students legal guardian. College students choose for themselves whether or not to attend class, and if they do not attend teachers do not care; they simply leave a student fail. Parents are no longer involved in the students education process; they can only give outside advice in an attempt to guide students. The new found freedom that college students acquire comes at the price of increased responsibility. Students are now responsible for their own finances. Now they are required to buy their own food and personal items such as: soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, deo... Free Essays on Life's Changes Free Essays on Life's Changes Freedom . . . what’s the cost? Differences between high school and college affect many aspects of a students life. Throughout a student’s high school career their parents are always there to provide constant guidance, and support. When a student enters college, they have more control of their activities, and their parents are not there to guide them. The student is forced to decide for himselfherself and manage hisher own time. College life is better than high school because it offers more freedom, although there are more responsibilities, and a more complicated work load. College offers more freedom but with it comes increased responsibilities, and a more complicated workload. High school students experience many restrictions from their parents where as a college student is on hisher own so hisher parents do not have the chance to restrict hisher activities. Often during high school parents require their children to come home from parties or get togethers early, so that they don’t keep their parents up worrying when their going to come home. College students on the other hand no longer live with their parents so a student’s parents do not know when they come in or what they are doing. This freedom extends to class attendance too. In high school the school keeps track of a student’s attendance and reports any absences to the students legal guardian. College students choose for themselves whether or not to attend class, and if they do not attend teachers do not care; they simply leave a student fail. Parents are no longer involved in the students education process; they can only give outside advice in an attempt to guide students. The new found freedom that college students acquire comes at the price of increased responsibility. Students are now responsible for their own finances. Now they are required to buy their own food and personal items such as: soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, deo...

There is no topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

There is no topic - Essay Example As a means to gain enlightenment Gautama practiced meditation under a ‘bodhi’ tree where he finally realized the true path of freedom from suffering towards salvation. He was henceforth known as â€Å"Buddha† or the â€Å"Enlightened one† ( Hawkins 35).The basic ideals of Buddhism are centred on four noble truths that are the tenets of Buddha’s doctrines. The First noble ideal is the truth of suffering that recognizes that suffering exists. The second ideal emphasizes on the cause of suffering in which ignorance and desire are identified as the major causes. The third noble ideal teaches on the end of suffering in the world or in the spiritual sense by achieving Nirvana. Consequently, the fourth noble ideal creates the path towards the end of suffering (Hawkins 29). The monastic ideal of Christianity referred to the practice of seclusion from the world for the purpose of spiritual communion with God and the universe (Markus 19). The origin and spread of the practice is attributed to Saint Anthony of Alexandria in Egypt (Markus 19). At the age of fifteen, he decided to start off a life of seclusion in the desert for the next ninety years. During this period he became famous as more and more young men joined him in the desert. The ancient Eastern customs sought divine intervention. Furthermore, such people were referred to as hermits or â€Å"desert dwellers† (Hawkins 68)They were considered as holy men by the villagers who offered wise advice to the local villagers. During the spiritual enlightenment process, the hermits would subject their bodies to self punishment such as extreme fasting for the purpose of driving out desires of the flesh and strengthen the spirit. The villagers that sought advice from the hermits would carry offerings of food for them. The basic tenets of Christian monasticism were foremost driven by the

Effects of Media on Political and Social Trust in US Article

Effects of Media on Political and Social Trust in US - Article Example From this discussion it is clear that in democratic societies like USA, media ensures the exchange of opinions and points of view between the people in power and the general public. In liberal democracy, media facilitates   public communication, informs the public, and represents the community. In democratic countries, freedom of press is guaranteed by law. The government may protect information from its public disclosure by classifying it as sensitive, classified or secret.This study outlines that people are said to have political trust when they trust the actions and intentions of the government and politicians. Uncivil exchanges during talks shows drastically reduce social trust. Talk radio can provide an unstructured outlet for public expression.  As listeners engage more and more with the medium, they become exhausted by the political system rather being motivated citizens. Thus, there is no long-term gauge on any medium to see how the media affect on trust in different time s. Social trust is a belief in the honesty, integrity and reliability of others that enables participants to act together more efficiently. Scanning the papers and watching video entertainment content enhance social trust, while examining the television news undermine trust in others.  studies have generated results that 20% of the overall public in America, have a greater impact on the political process than do those with more mixed ideological views.

See Assessment criteria below Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

See Assessment criteria below - Essay Example To what extent are they (in)compatible with each other? To what extent do their accounts reinforce, undermine, coincide with or complement each other? To what extent are their accounts (or might their accounts be) combinable into a superior (or at least a more comprehensive) account of these historical dimensions of human thought and understanding? To what extent do their respective insights and oversights help us better to understand or to resolve issues about the historical dimensions of human thought and understanding? Hegel and Heidegger were both eminent philosophers of their respective times: Hegel (1770-1831), the earlier of the two, belongs to the school of Idealism whereas Heidegger (1889-1976) was one of the main exponents of 20th century Existentialism. Hegel sees the development of Being as an infinite development cycle triggered by the intention of becoming something what it is not at present, and this perpetual chain of development is marked by a point of coincidence of being and non-being, which, when united, form a higher entity. The former entity is therefore combined, through the factors of being and non-being, in a higher synthesis of the two. The development of Being therefore consists of three stages: being is the thesis, non-being the antithesis, and the becoming is the synthesis. These stages are repeated ad infinitum so that the new Being is again tested by the non-being and achieves a still higher stage in the melding of thesis and antithesis to a new stage of becoming. Being is therefore in a constant state of flux, it is rebuilding itself ad infinitum to achieve higher stages of itself. The former stages of Being are not nullified but re=evaluated, so in the development of the human personality we pass from one stat e to another, constantly evaluating and developing our personality, passing from state to state without nullifying the previous state, which is constantly dividing and recomposing itself.

Sociology Essays Racism Football Sport

Sociology Essays Racism Football Sport Racism Football Sport Real Literature Review The phenomenon of racism in football is not as old as the conflict of racism in society in general, but neither is it as recent as the current worrying situation in which some to believe (Back et al.1998). Back et al. (1998) identified that football grounds have provided one of the largest public arenas in which racism can be openly expressed. It is against this background that the phenonomenon of racism in football has led to wide spread discussion during the past couple of decades within the media, amongst policy makers and in the wider football community. Recently, there has been a increase in the study of sport, racism and ethnicity (Jarvie 1991). Numerous factors which will be explained have undoubtedly contributed to fuel this interest. However, a couple of considerations appear to have been of great importance. Firstly, black sportsmen and sportswomen throughout the world have experienced remarkable successes in international sport (Jarvie 1991). According to Mercer, (1994) and Shohat and Stam, 1994) this may be due to the fact that apparently each positive stereotype has a negative result. Therefore, as black men and women have come to excel in various sports, people of a non ethnic backgroundhave needed an explanation for why what seemed to be an inferior race can outperform a superior one. This may be one of many factors which may have encouraged resentment for their success which in turn could have lead to abuse in a racist nature. Secondly, a disproportionately high level of athletic participation by diverse ethnic minority cultures has often been used by liberal minded sports enthusiasts as an excuse to indicate that there is no racism in these arenas. These authors use these examples to try and illustrate that there is no form or racism in certain sports, however authors such as (Williams 1992, 1994; Turner 1990; Holland 1992a, 1992b, 1995) have proven otherwise. Bairner (1996) and Guha (1997) who are thought to be sporting enthusiasts argue the assumption that sport itself is relatively free from racism and that sport, more than any other sphere of society, enjoys a certain degree of democratization and equality according to Jarvie (1991). However, â€Å"such accounts of sport which make general inferences about the changing nature of racial relations in society based on a consideration of athletic participation rates† (Jarvie, 1991, p. 3) are misleading due to their ignorance of the broader issues of power and domination within society. Although there has been a sizable interest of studies in the area of race and sport in the UK (Chappell et al. 1996; Norris Jones,1998) focusing primarily on the issues of â€Å"stacking† and â€Å"centrality† is useful evidence in a descriptive term. However, in terms of quantifiable data indicating that there is a decrease racism in sport, it would be very nave to gain assumptions that their was a decrease in racism in sport from these sources. Maguire (1991) has therefore recognised that there is a need for greater qualitative as well as quantitative research into the area in the â€Å"hope that a more rounded picture may be produced† (p. 100). Although some qualitative research involving racism in English football has been carried out (Cashmore,1982; Howe, 1976; Maguire, 1991), these studies only concentrated on the experiences of top level Black players. This has been highlights to identify there is very little data on the experiences of racism on lower league footballers. Therefore, this is a worthy study because not only will it explore the different avenues of racism, but will also give a broader picture as to the experiences of racism in lower league footballers. It is believed that non-league football, which consists of the middle section of the football hierarchy in the United Kingdom, would prove to be a grounded place for such a study for a variety of reasons. First, the realities of race relations could well be more real at lower levels of the game than in the polished environment of professional sport (Hoberman, 1997) due to its less cosmopolitan nature (Maguire, 1991). The need to investigate below the top level of sport has been echoed by Horne (1996),who stated that focusing on the lower level of soccer culture may be beneficial in understanding the differing forms of attachment to, and identification with, the game for Black players, as these everyday levels could well be â€Å"important sites for consolidating and possibly transforming racist attitudes† (p. 61). He further stated that investigations at different levels of soccer are needed if involvement of ethnic minorities in sport and in the wider community are to be better understood and appreciated Racism is undoubtedly a sensitive issue and it is important to be clear on what racism is when conducting the research. What is Racism? As quoted from the McPherson report from the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry: ‘Racism in general terms consists of conduct or words or practices which advantage or disadvantage people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. In its more subtle form it is as damaging as in it overt form.’ (Macpherson, 1999: 6.4) According to Long et al (2000) racism arises from the belief that people can be divided into physical genetic categories that make some superior to others, a belief which is then used to justify inequality. He also goes on to explain that ‘recently racism has been recognised to extent beyond supposed biological superiority to others to encompass notions of cultural differences’ (Long et al, 2000 p. 15). Further to this point Solomos and Back (1996) who conducted a study on racism in society states that racism can be seen as a mutable and changing phenomenon in which notions of biological or pseudo-biological cultural difference are utilised to explain and legitimate hierarchies of racial dominance and exclusion. Therefore there are cases where people do not realise they are disadvantaging people because of their ethnicity. This is can be referred to as everyday, subconscious or indirect racism (Long et al. 2000). It is helpful to look at racism on a broad scale to identify the common trends which may occur and compare them with the experiences of individuals in the UK. Therefore, different types of research such as †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..carried out within various countries in Europe was a practical place to begin with. Racism in football is still a major problem in Poland, Spain and Italy for instance. In the Netherlands: Ajax fans have the tradition of using Jewish and Israeli symbols to express their allegiance(Wikipedia). This shows how the picture can often be complex, as these Ajax fans are for the most part not Jewish, but use Jewish symbols because of the historical connections of the club and the area it was founded in to Jews before WW1. Within Holland fans of teams playing Ajax sometimes exhibit racist behaviour in terms of anti-semitic remarks, even though there are no actual Jewish players at Ajax another example from the literature is those Italian fans from Napoli who supported Argentinians in the world cup 1990, rather than the national team, because their local team hero Maradonna was in the Argentine side. This lack of national loyalty meant that the Northern Italian fans disliked the southern region fans and so supported anyone who played against Argentina. Examples like these two above highlight that it is not always a straight forward picture that we are dealing with in considering racism within football. Local and divided loyalties arise and sometimes exchanged, patterns of illogical racist behaviour can develop according to varying circumstances. Therefore: the racism on display in European football matches is more often than not dependent on the traditions and historic rivalries within white fans’ cultures’ (UNESCO 2000). However, there also may be common practices of racism that can be seen through out Europe and even the world. Therefore common ways to deal with it are applicable: ‘While one must recognize that the problem of racism is different in each country, a Europe-wide initiative to combat the problem must surely be welcomed’ (UNESCO 2000). Even within the UK their are a different patterns and history of racism, and different things being down to combat it. The situation in Scotland or Northern Ireland is different from that in England and Wales. For instance the investigation in 2007, against West Ham fans before the match with Spurs was over anti-Semitic chants. An example of the kind of chants that are sometimes used against Spurs fans are: Those yids from Tottenham The gas mans got them Oh those yids from White Hart Lane† (UNESCO 2000) Localised Racism Authers such as Holland et al. (1995) who considered the impact of racism by far right groups at Leeds united football club and the strategies used to oppose these by the club identified ‘that it is impossible to identify uniform patterns of racism or prejudice or race relations’, rationalize their own choice of focus on the basis that ‘terms such as race, ethnicity and sport have to be specifically â€Å"unpacked† in terms of content, time and place’. There is a general consensus that white players do not experience racism in football in the UK, however there is evidence to contradict this belief. There are in fact identity codes within football culture which reveal quite complicated racial meanings. A prime example is the song ‘I’d rather be a Paki than a Scouse’ which is regularly sung to Liverpool supporters by supporters from Arsenal and Chelsea and Manchester United fans. This song which is sung to the tune of ‘She’ll be coming round the mountain’ is directed at Merseyside fans. The intention is to demote the status people who come from Merseyside from being a normal English society, to one which is frowned upon. Therefore ridiculing the ‘neighbourhood nationalism’ of Scouseness. This is achieved by fans of different ethnicities from London and Manchester to altering the meaning of being a loathed minority which is the stigmatized category of a ‘Paki’, rather than retain their race and be a Scouser. This example ehphasises the complexities of local racialization and racial exclusion. Likewise it also highlights the fact that different minority communities may have a different hierarchal status within local society. . For example, young black men may win inclusion and even command positions of prestige within particular fan cultures while other minorities – in this case South Asians – are relegated to the status of vilified outsiders. (Williams 1992: 24) Williams has also developed a more nuanced notion of the politics of racism within English football. Interestingly he used Phil Cohen’s (1988) notion of ‘nationalism of the neighbourhood’ to discuss the ways in which minorities can win contingent inclusion within local working-class collectivities Reverse Racism The terms of racism, moreover, may in some situations also be reversed and lead to phenomena that are difficult to grasp without a sense of the inherent contradictions of contingent Racialization. For example, it has been noted that a racialized black identity can have a number of advantageous connotations within a masculine culture like soccer. In some circles, the mythical dimensions of the black body (of physical, sexual and athletic prowess) may even make a black identity preferable over a white one in terms of its ability to signify a powerful masculinity (Carrington, 2002). As a result, such racialized identities may sometimes be sought out for short term gains as kind of strategic essentialism (Mercer, 1994). Without doubt, the contingent admiration of racialized black bodies and men is not only a source of possibility within soccer culture, but also one of restraint. Racialized expectations of black performance, for example, position black players mostly in attacking roles, and much more rarely as key defenders or goalkeepers (Maguire, 1991). Moreover, this particular black identity is not available to all black players. In contrast to players of British-Caribbean descent, those of British Asian descent are rarely perceived as potentially talented professional players in any position at all. The latter ethnicity, as Burdsey has shown, is stereotypically taken as effeminate and too frail for soccer (Burdsey, 2004). Long, Tongue, Sprackle. and Carrington(1995) affirm this assumption that racial stereotyping provides a freefall for commonsense racism’ (Long et al., 1995). These assumptions transcend a belief that it true that Asians cannot play football. This in tern leadsindividuals who do not research the subject to believe that these myths are true. These views are the same for black players. Examples include ‘not being good trainers, not being any good once the pitches get muddy and not having the bottle to be defenders’ (Long 2000). A further hopeful note there is that in recent years a Japanese player, Shunsuke Nakamura has been making a considerable contribution towards decreasing racist habits amongst Scottish football fans, merely by his popularity as a player. The friendly chant there of â€Å"Oh, it’s so Japaneasy,† when Nakamura gets the ball makes a welcome change from the racist chants that are otherwise heard in football. His football shirt had become the favourite new buy amongst Children in Glasgow, and they have welcomed him as one of their own, so that: The Japanese midfielder revealed in the pages of the official club magazine, The Celtic View, that he would even contemplate extending his contract with the Hoops, such is the manner in which he has acclimatized to life in the West of Scotland. (Soccerphile Ltd, 2000) In a 1995 England vs. Republic of Ireland friendly match in Dublin saw considerable trouble from hard core group of right wingers, including the BNP and Combat 18 groups. They chanted anti-republican songs that led to such bad fights that the game was actually called off, only half an hour later. Research into such things brings to light the cultural nature of racism in football. It comes out in ways that depend on the wider culture that it is within. Clearly the long history of trouble between Eire and England is the background to the 1995 scenes. In a habit that is similar that outlined in Italy where the northerners call the southerners blacks there is also a tendency towards antagonism between the North and South of England. The chant: â€Å"I’d rather be a Paki than a scouse (Liverpudlian)† is sometimes used by the fans of some southern teams playing against Liverpool. Tim Crabbe, principle lecturer in sport sociology at Britain’s Sheffield Hallam University notes the significance of using such race related words: These insults only work because of the stigma that these racial groups still suffer in the minds of large swathes of white European society. As such, race often stands on the sidelines, ready to be mobilized in circumstances where it is deemed appropriate within the ritualized abuse of a football game (UNESCO, 2000) Dramatic incidents like these focused the public’s attention, and attracted widespread debate in the media about the role of racism among certain groups of supporters and about violence and hooliganism. It is perhaps not surprising therefore that most studies of racism in football tend to concentrate either on the nature and extent of racist abuse in and around football stadiums (Holland 1992a, 1992b, 1995), or are preoccupied with the recruitment activities of extreme right-wing movements (CCS 1981; Leeds Trades Council 1988; Waters 1988). In addition a number of writers have analysed the phenomenon of the growing presence of black players in football, notably Cashmore (1983, 1990), Woolnough (1983), Hill (1989) and Vasili (1994). While most studies have focused on the issue of fan behaviour, racism is apparent at other levels. Football racism Theories In terms of scholastic writing and in the minds of the general public, racism in football is often associated with the hostile behaviour of groups of hooligans in and around the stadium (Holland 1992a, 1992b, 1995, Garland and Rowe, 2001; Back et al 1999; Jones, 2002). Nevertheless, it has been acknowledged by Brown (1998) that racism exists amongst ordinary soccer fans, players and even amongst referees and coaches (King, 2004). Racism has also been identified amongst referees and coaches and in the institutional regions of football associations such as executive committees of football clubs (Back et al., 1999). Further to this point, a number of writers have analysed the phenomenon of the growing presence of black players in football, in particular Cashmore (1983, 1990), Woolnough (1983), Hill (1989) and Vasili (1994). Although, most studies have concentrated on the issue of fan behaviour, racism is evident at other levels. Authors such as Back, Crabbe and Solomus, (1999) have indicated that the majority of the literature on racism in football overlooks the issue by reducing the problem to a clearly identifiable, overt form in which everyone can recognise as racist behaviour. A prime example would be racist hooligan groups (Back et al., 1999). They suggest instead that racism in football should be considered as a part of global football culture. Interestingly, Back et al. (2001) recognised that identifying racism is a more complex than task than originally perceived. They identified that there lies four domains in which racism can be measured in football culture. These can be identified as the ‘the vernacular’, ‘the occupational’, ‘the institutional’ and ‘the culture industry’. The ‘vernacular’ domain relates to those forms of racist behaviour which can be identified by society as a negative form of abuse within football. These problems include explicit racist chanting amongst fans. This also includes local rivalries which can be identified as a form of ‘neighbourhood nationalism’ (Long, 2000) which can lead to racist behaviours within and outside the stadiums (Crabbe, 2004). An example of this is the 1995 England vs. Republic of Ireland friendly match in Dublin which saw considerable trouble from hard core group of right wingers. The second domain which has been identified is the ‘occupational domain’ which concentrates on the forms of racism players experience at their football clubs. These can include experiences on the training ground and in the chaning rooms. Racist actions which can also be identified in this domain include the process of ‘stacking’ players in certain positions which comply with historic racial folk law views of successful positions for some for ethnic minorities (Maguire, 1991) EXAMPLE The ‘institutional’ arena involves the administration and management of the football. Racial issues which arise from the institutional domain include a lack of access for ethnic minorities towards decision making and policies and at the club. racialized patterns of club ownership, and a lack of representation of different ethnic groups on management and club boards. It also involves the shapes of social networks that can constitute racialized networks of patronage, which hinder access of certain minorities in football (Solomos and Back 1995 and Burdsey, 2004). This is reflected due to the growing number of black and ethnic players, emerging from professional football. It would be natural to think that this development would naturally transcend to the institutional forums of football. However, this has not had a significant impact on management, coaching or in the board rooms (Solomos and Back 1995). The fourth domain, ‘culture industry’, looks at racism involved in biased representations of football players from different ethnic backgrounds in the popular media and patterns of advertising and sponsorship that support them (Hernes, 2005). The four arenas of racialization in football mentioned above bring to light the different ways in which racial exclusion can occur within football. This shows that there has been a development on the notions of racism which illustrate that there is in fact more depth to the origins of racism compared to previous authors such as Williams (2001) who relate racism in football with hooliganism and violence. Therefore, this research has focussed on all the aspects of racism which have been identified in the literature. However, in particular finding out if the more covert forms of racism are existent at lower league football. Initiatives In addition, the Football Offences Act was passed in 1991 which criminalized racial chanting or abuse (Armstrong, 1998). Nevertheless, according to Welsh (1998), the undoubted racialized nature of the fan environment has resulted in â€Å"a generation of black people [having] been hounded out of football by overt racism† (p. xii). Emphasizing this point of a continuing racialized environment, he went on to ask, The Football unites, racism divides initiative (FURD), started in 1995 by some Sheffield United fans focuses on the issue of increasing the participation of people from ethnic minorities in football in a variety of ways. They note: It has long been the case that a number of fans have used Saturday afternoons at football matches to air their racial prejudices but it is now recognised that this minority of racist fans is only part of the problem. (FURD, 1997) They help make it clear that in order to decrease racism in football it is also necessary to get people from ethnic minorities involved, not just as fans, but also as players, mangers, etc. FURD indicates that the UK was the first country to try to tackle racism in football in an organised way. The ‘Let’s Kick Racism out of Football’ campaign was started in 1993, also the ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ came soon after. Now there is a Europe wide effort, the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network. The Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football is now well established within the UK and aims to prevent racism through a variety of aspects. Kick  It Out works throughout the football, educational and community sectors to challenge racism and  work for  positive change. (Kick it out, 2007) They target Professional football players and clubs with advice, and try to get to Young people in schools and youth clubs. However, more specific to this research project, they also attempt to prevent racism within Amateur football, and so stop it growing into the professional side. They also, in conjunction with the most recent developments in combating racism in football try to help various Ethnic Minorities, especially Asians become involved with football. The (SIRC) notes two important points, that racism: an important factor in the problem of football hooliganism itself (SIRC, (2007). The actual extent of racism is virtually impossible to measure as detailed statistics in this context are almost non-existent. The issue of football hooliganism was better known, at least until recently in the UK. Of course it is a less contentious issue, as the vast majority of people can easily condemn it. When it comes to racist hooligan behaviour then the issue become that divisive. Since, it appears many in the UK still harbour racist attitudes in various ways. Another aspect of the literature that has informed the present study is the issue of right wing groups and racism. Groups like the BNP are often associated with racism in football. It is an issue to consider as to why the groups are attracted to each other: Some debate also exists as to whether right-wing groups deliberately target soccer fans as recruits or whether soccer fans are drawn into the groups because of the opportunities they offer for violence. (SIRC, 2007)It appears that some researchers think right wing groups do deliberately target football fans. Others think that they are opportunist and use violence as a way to direct aggression against those they see as their enemies, i.e. ethnic minorities Types of Racism A study in 1999 by Jon Garland and Michael Rowe attempted to consider three aspects of racism in football and efforts made to combat it: the conflation of racism with `hooliganism; the role of antiracist campaigns within the game; and the denial of the problem of racism within football. (Garland and Rowe, 1999: 335). They suggest that although the various efforts by fans and clubs are good, they lack an academic rigor in the way that defines racism and other important concepts. This is not just academic nit picking, but something that actually affects real efforts. For instance there is often too much attention paid to large scale, obvious examples of racism, such as a group of fans self consciously giving the Nazi salute. This at the expense of more subtle examples of racism at the everyday level. They suggest that these everday forms of racism are actually more harmful to individuals because of the impact on their ordinary lives which can cause psychological upset in a way that is, though hard to quantify, deeply felt. Garland and Rowe note that initiatives would benefit from having more sociological thinking behind them: Adopting these perspectives at the local level would help both clubs and fans to develop and sustain more meaningful programmes that suit the prevailing conditions. (Garland and Rowe, 1999: 335). Overt racism among supporters and abuse directed at black players, both of which flourished in the 1970s and 1980s, have declined steeply in recent years in the face of vociferous public campaigning such as the kick it out campaign. EXAMPLE – JOHN BARNES However, Crabbe, (2004) goes on to note that the underlying negative feelings against black players appears to still be there. Also, that, unfortunately in other European countries it is not even implicit EXAMPLE LEWIS HAMILTON 2008. The racism is still very much explicit and in your face. He notes the singing of chants like Get out, get out, queers, niggers, Basques and Catalans in Spain and anti-Semitic slogans written on club walls in Italy. In addition, some researchers think that there has been something of a return to racist behaviour in football in the last few years. (Cowley 2003) comments on the possible cause of this: the present rise stems partly from the growth of racism within society generally The present war on terror has brought about increased suspicion, hatred and outright hostility to Muslim communities in Britain. (Cowley, 2003: 55) Statistics in 2000 from the Football League national fan survey sagest that three out of ten of fans had heard racist remarks aimed at players in the 1999/2000 season. 7% had seen racism towards other fans. These figures are very similar for the FA Premier League. only 4% of all FA Premier League fans surveyed thought racism was getting worse at football matches at that level in 2001. Although, half way through 2001 apparently racially motivated organised groups of fans and others were involved in serious disturbances in Oldham before the Oldham Athletic v Stoke City match. This appeared to be the catalyst which caused disturbances later in northern cities to ethnic minorities who retaliated to these supporters and racist organisations (Williams, 2001). Inconspicuous forms of Racism The focus on different cultural domains and interactions outlined above has particular consequences for the way racist behaviour is understood, and its reproduction theorized. Overt and instantly recognisable racist acts can no longer be taken as shorthand to classify a person as belonging to a deviant group of soccer fans that is characterized by moral degeneration (that is, racist/hooligans). As (Garland and Row, 1999) state, they should rather be seen as expressions of a larger racialized culture of Football. Therefore, the solution to understanding racism does not lie solely in the study of the content, consequences and intentions behind the overt racist act itself. Interestingly it also requires taking into account the cultural context in which such acts become meaningful expressions (Miles, 1997). Further to this point Miles (1997) declared that the cultural context of racism is repeated through continued development of Racialization, which are contained in the unobtrusive, sub-conscious ins and outs of everyday life. These everyday endeavours can range from a simple joke about black players in the changing room to differential racist expectations on the training grounds and the development of mono-ethnic sub-groups of players within mixed soccer clubs and teams (King, 2004). These practices do not necessarily produce overtracism, nor may people identify these expressions with that of a racialized nature. However, by reproducing a racialized situation they are in fact, fuelling the catalyst for overt racist abuse to occur in meaningful ways. Since the potential for meaningful expressions of racism lies in sets of racialized practices and interactions of wider soccer culture, the usual focus on the perpetrator and victim of the racist act needs to be complemented with a similar rigorous attention for the culture in which the act was expressed. Racialization implies a set of differentially racialized cultural contexts it also constitutes a move away from the common assumption that such a context is formed by a single, coherent racist ideology. Instead, it allows for an understanding of the contradictions and incoherencies within and between the expressions of racism in different domains of soccer culture. For example, white soccer fans can racially abuse black players of the opposite team Whilst supporting those on their own team, (Garland and Rowe, 1999) and racist abuse is also common between different non-white ethnic groups and in situations where the white majority is underrepresented (King, 2004). Institutional Racism in football? Back et al (2001) interestingly made some intriguing observations when invited to a Carling No.1 Panel of Chair of the Football Supporters’ Association. The first was that not only did this setting reflect traces of middle or upper class and status but ‘white centredness within the institutions of football more generally’ (Back et al. 2001, p. 162). It is in these exact places, where political decisions, footballing rumours, policies and job opportunities are instigated. During the visit to this setting, Back et al. noted that there was not one ethnic minority descendent sited at the location. Therefore if the most influential people in British football do not have a true representation of society (in this case people of ethnic minority who work in the footballing industry). These boards claim that their decisions are based on holistic approaches which benefit everyone at their establishment. However, if there is no diversity in at the top level of decision making, how can there be a fair conclusion in policies which embodies everyone involved in the game? This proves that the old-boy network is still active and is continuing to work along racial lines (Rimer, 1996). Back et al (1996) go on to state that it is: â€Å"easy for everyone to support a campaign against racism in football when it is targeted against pathologically aggressive, neo-Nazi thugs. It might prove a little more tricky to generate football-wide support if we were to start asking questions about the attitudes in the boardroom, on the pitch, and in the training gro

The Country Dancing Hall :: Descriptive Essay Examples, country, dance

The Country Dancing Hall "Get down, turn around, go to town, Boot Scootin' Boogie!" This is a familiar piece of music sung by Brooks and Dunn that is regularly heard at my favorite place, "Boot Scootin' Thursday" at the Dubuque County Fairgrounds. Many people believe that country music is just singers whining about their divorce, the death of their dog, etc. In reality, however, it is much more than that. Country music is all about life experiences. This place allows people of all ages to be free, spend time with those they care about, and just have fun. This is because they can dance the night away, either with the standard style or with their own style, talk to their friends, relieve stress by not thinking about what is on their mind, but by only thinking of having fun, and/or do whatever they would like to do!! This is the only place that I know of where people of all ages can go to do all of these things at once. "Boot Scootin' Thursday" is held on Thursday nights from seven o'clock to eleven o'clock in the ballroom of the Dubuque County Fairgrounds. It is a huge room that could probably hold (and has held) a couple thousand people. It is a dark room, with the exception of stringed lights that hang the ceiling of the building and the light that is on the stage where the music is played from. The dance floor is wooden and surrounded by carpet that has tables and chairs for the dancers to rest and people to talk. In the middle of the dance floor is a disco ball, that is usually lit during the slow songs. To the right of the stage is the bar, where one can buy pop, water, alcohol (if twenty-one), or juice. In the snack area, which is located to the far right corner of the ballroom, one can buy food ranging from candy bars to a piece of pizza or popcorn. Country line dancing has become one of the most popular forms of dancing in this country. Many people say that it is just a phase like disco was back in the seventies, but those of us who are regular country dancers, feel differently. For us, it is a way to free oneself from the struggles of life and get in shape; it is a physical thing.

Does Corporate Social Responsibility Make a Difference on Labor Conditions? a Case Study in Southern China

Does Corporate Social Responsibility make a difference on labor conditions? A Case Study in Southern China Yiu Por Chen Assistant Professor Public Services Graduate Program DePaul University & IZA e-mail: [email  protected] edu Phone: 312/362-8441 Fax: 312/362-5506 1 Abstract The corporate social responsibility code of conduct (CSRC) has been the model of corporate governance (CG) used by multinational corporations (MNCs) for their suppliers.Using the transaction cost perspective, this study argues the CSRC system may reduce some transaction costs for MNCs in planning and implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, the CSRC may suffer from opportunism at the supplier level, which may undermine CSRC outcomes. By utilizing a unidimensional item response model with a randomized survey of factory workers of 12 toy manufacturers in Southern China, this study provides a unified measure to evaluate the effects of CSRCs on labor conditions from workers’ voices.Furth ermore, this study offers fresh empirical evidence to show the ways opportunism may undermine CSRC effects on labor relations. JEL code: M14, M23, J28, J50, J81, J83, J88 Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Multinational Corporations, Outsourcing, Safety, LaborManagement Relations, Working Conditions, Workers’ Rights, Labor Market Policy 2 â€Å"There are lots of firms and lots of changes in labor practices among them, so there is no lack of data.To judge whether formal labor market rules produce worse employment outcomes, as claimed by orthodox analysts, one could contrast employment between firms with more or less rigid internal rules. † ? Richard Freeman (2005: 19-20), suggesting that a microanalysis of workers and firms will be a path forward to understanding the effect of labor institutions. 1. Introduction Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been rapidly institutionalized and now covers the vast majority of industrial sectors around the globe.Donalds on (1996) highlights that 90% of all Fortune 500 companies have established codes of conduct, which are by far the most common mode of CSR used by corporations today. Furthermore, 51% of German firms claim to have codes of conduct, compared to 41% in the UK, and 30% in France (Schneider and Barsoux, 1997). Brytting (1997) also found that 52% of the larger Swedish companies had codes of conduct. In fact, CSR is largely the response of multinational corporations (MNCs) to the accusation of being the major actors in â€Å"new exploitations† of less developed countries (LDCs) (Chan, 2001). For the outsourcing MNCs, one of the important aspects of CSR is to ensure that workplaces and labor conditions in poor nations are not â€Å"too† terrible (even if it is worse than in the workplaces of developed countries). Theoretically speaking, the original approach to CSR suggested in the literature is a stakeholder approach. The stakeholder approach advocates that firms should not only maximize profit but also behave as good citizens of the community and take account of the needs of other stakeholders that may be affected by the firms’ production.This approach to CSR involves all related stakeholders in the development and implementation of the CSR (Freeman, 1984). In reality, the corporate governance 1 CSR in general is closely linked with principles of â€Å"sustainable development†, that is, enterprises should be obliged to make decisions based not only on the financial/economic factors but also on the social and environmental consequences of their activities. In terms of labor condition issues related to the outsourcing process, there are numerous reports and news about the exploitation of labor.The interested reader can visit some labor NGOs’ websites, for example, www. AMRC. org, China Labor Watch, ILO, etc. 3 (CG) approach (or firm-centered approach), which uses corporate social responsibility codes of conduct (CSRC) to regulate th e suppliers’ operations in LDCs, is more prevalent. 2 From an institutional theoretical perspective, this article argues that the high transaction cost incurred prevents the stakeholder approach from bringing all stakeholders together and developing strategies to deal with the externality produced by the outsourcing of production.Instead, the current CSR practice has reduced the original stakeholder approach from the CG approach to CSR, the CSRC. In practice, while the CSRC may get around the transaction cost of getting all stakeholders together and reduce potential conflicts that may arise during the CSRC planning and implementation process, this CSRC may be vulnerable to opportunism (or agency problem) at the supplier levels (Jiang, 2009). As the codes are externally imposed on the suppliers, they can exploit the information asymmetry to disregard some of the codes.Because factory interviews and surveys for suppliers’ management could hardly reveal the true faces of labor conditions, an effective measure to reveal workers’ voices at suppliers’ level is called for. However, systematic survey data are needed to verify the validity of CSRC to labor conditions. In addition, there is no unified method to understand the effect of CSRC on labor conditions. 3 This article provides a theoretical argument and a unified empirical approach to analyze labor conditions under the CSRC and the opportunism effect at the supplier side.Utilizing a unidimensional item response theory (UIRT) model, this study looks at the CSRC effect on 16 labor conditions in three dimensions: labor bargaining and association rights, violation of law, and safety and living environment. These labor conditions data are generated from a randomized survey of 12 toy factories in Southern China, including 10 CSRC suppliers for McDonald’s, Mattel, Disney, and Wal-Mart, and 2 non-CSRC factories as a comparison group. 2In particular, some MNCs and business associations would use Corporate Social Responsibility Codes Certifications (CSRCC) as measures to regulate suppliers’ conduct, such as Nike and the like. 3 For example, the Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking at the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, U. S. Department of Labor mentioned in the China’s country report that â€Å"Because of China's repressive political system, it was not possible to obtain any information directly from China.There are no Chinese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) active in this area, and foreign NGOs do not have access. Accordingly, it was impossible to corroborate or reject allegations by various labor and human rights organizations that children are working in export industries which produce for the United States market† (Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor Affairs). 4 The UIRT model effectively compares the relative seriousness of a labor problem with the lab or union problem, which is the most serious labor problem found in this study.It shows that, first, the CSRC may have a positive effect on labor conditions. CSRC suppliers have less serious labor condition problems than factories with no CSRC. Second, because different CSRCs may have different coverage and monitoring intensity, different CSRCs may result in different labor condition issues. Non-CSRC factories are found to have six serious labor problems; McDonald’s, Mattel, Disney, and Wal-Mart have four, two, one, and zero serious problems, respectively.Third, suppliers working with more than one CSRC may reduce the possibility of opportunism at the supplier level. While suppliers with 1 CSRC would have 2 problems as serious as the labor union problem, suppliers with 2 CSRCs would have no such problem. However, the CG approach to CSRC may suffer from opportunism. This study documented some typical suppliers’ measures to circumvent CSRC auditing: fire drill, trained qu estion, giving a holiday, cleaning the factory, and safety drill.In addition, the subsequent analysis shows that different suppliers’ measures to circumvent the CSRC may represent a diverse level of opportunism. The subsequent sections are organized as follows: the second section explores the effect of the stakeholder approach and CG approach to CSRC and their effects on labor conditions; the third section describes the survey, basic observation from the data, and the methodology; the fourth section provides the estimation results; the last section discusses the results and draws some conclusions. 2.Stakeholder versus corporate governance approaches to CSR and labor conditions: A transaction cost perspective With the globalization of production in recent years, MNCs from developed countries migrated their manufacturing (high labor cost) operation to LDCs for the sake of cost minimization or to be closer to the consumer market. Due to the regulations of the host government, th eir production is usually outsourced to local suppliers. The intense competition among suppliers may induce lower bidding price for outsourcing deals from MNCs.This low bidding price might, in turn, result in the downward pressure of labor cost, safety equipments (Jiang, 2009; Pun, 2005a ; b). As a result, the globalization of production may even make working conditions weaker than it was before the market opened (Lee, 5 1995; Chan, 2003). Such worker conditions have been reported in mass media, generating concern from consumers, NGOs, policymakers, and academics. For example, in China, labor relations have been changing since the market reform began (Zhu and Warner 2004 a ; b). Workers usually suffered from â€Å"new exploitations† (Chan, 2001). In response to the recent surge of complaints from NGOs, media, and consumer movements, outsourcing MNCs’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been designed to meet the consumer demand for a â€Å"clearer† product with fewer exploitations and/or a better working environment and safety for the LDC worker. 5 In fact, the original stakeholder theory was mapped out by Freeman (1984). The theory attempts to ascertain which groups are stakeholders in a corporation and thus deserve management attention. A company’s stakeholders are therefore all those who are influenced by, or can influence, a company’s decisions and actions.This theory intends to address the â€Å"Principle of Who or What Really Counts. † A firm, as a member of the stakeholder, cannot survive without taking into account the needs of the other stakeholders (Freeman, 1984). Figure 1: Original stakeholder model (Freeman, 1984) 4 Richard B. Freeman (1994) conducted one of the earliest surveys on labor standards under globalization of production. For further CSR code description, please go to http://www. csreurope. org/ 5 Bjorner (2004) shows that consumers would prefer to pay more for a â€Å"clean† product in the market.See also Harrison and Scorse’s (2003) study on how globalization impacts compliance with labor standards. 6 The CSR problem may be viewed from the institutional perspective: when a firm’s operations create externality, the stakeholders, those who have been affected by the externality, could bargain with the firm and achieve welfare improvement as long as the property rights of each party are well defined and the information cost for bargaining is low (Coase, 1960). Under these conditions, an agreement that guarantees the interests of stakeholders could be made.In the case where the externality is produced by MNCs’ outsourcing, the CSR is therefore an institution (or the rule of game) that may help to remedy past and potential conflicts of interest among stakeholders and produce a more sustainable future development. However, the stakeholder approach of CSR may not be sustainable due to the complexity of the agreement, the high cost of property righ ts’ identification, and the high information cost of bargaining. First, there is doubt about the willingness of MNCs to design a valid CSR practice that would help alleviate workers’ conditions at the supplier level (AMRC, 2004:10).Second, it is sometimes difficult to identify all the stakeholders because they are often locally determined. The transaction cost may be significant as stakeholders who can work together are needed to conceptualize and implement CSR. 6 Third, even when one can draw a rough picture about potential stakeholders, the question is how these very different – usually polarized – stakeholder views can successfully collaborate from the drafting the CSR to its implementation and monitoring (Dubinsky, 2002).The stakeholder approach to CSR is thus considered to have a higher transaction cost than the CG approach because it has to define all stakeholders and bring them together to develop the CSR design. In general, the CG approach to CSR is an expression used to describe what some see as a company’s obligation to be sensitive to the needs of all stakeholders in its business operations (Hill and Jones, 1992). 7 This is a top-down approach that aligns with the MNCs’ board (Husted, 2003).However, in the case of outsourcing decision, according to Williamson (2008), the choice of form of governance is subject to transaction costs due to asset specificity, uncertainty, frequency and their transaction costs, among others. These transaction costs would then determine the form of outsourcing (market or vertical integration). 8 The CG approach to CSR thus coincides with the outsourcing form and uses external social auditors instead of relying on stakeholders to monitor the behaviors of suppliers. 6 Murray (2002) suggests that even when companies have elegant statements of principle, the complexity is the accountability.Local-level involvement is needed and involves a complex regime of stakeholders (Murray, 2002: 41). 7 Most of the CSR has similar objectives. See, for example, Leipziger (2001) for SA8000, one of the guides to the new CSR code. 7 Figure 2: Corporate governance approach: the firm is at the center. Source: Fassin (2008) Figure 5. In practice, the CG approach to CSR usually employs the CSRC as a means to control the behavior of suppliers. 9 From the MNCs’ point of view, the CSRC may have less uncertainty and may be a more cost-effective market solution. First, MNCs can use their existing internal system to monitor the suppliers.Second, MNCs can employ â€Å"external specialists† such as auditing firms instead of the stakeholders to â€Å"plan† and â€Å"monitor† the implementation of CSRC at the supplier level. 10 One of the potential pitfalls of the CG approach to CSR is that even when the MNCs aim to implement the CSRC for these suppliers/suppliers, monitoring issues prevail and are subject to opportunism (Brown, 2002). 11 In some cases, the CG app roach to CSRC has been criticized as a â€Å"lame duck† by labor NGOs, even if the MNCs are indeed willing to safeguard better working conditions for 8Williamson (2008) has extended the transaction cost economics approach to outsourcing decision of a firm. The contractual schema suggested that key attributes of transactions such as asset specificity, uncertainty, and frequency and their transaction costs will determine the form of outsourcing (market or vertical integration) (Williamson, 2008: 8). The schema assumed the outsourcing form would be determined and stabilized as long as the property rights are well defined and reliably enforced by courts. 9 See Kotler and Lee (2005) for their suggestions on using CSR from a corporate governance point of view and from a marketing perspective. 0 See, for example, the social auditing of Pricewaterhouse. Also see the establishment of SA 8000 by Social Accountability International (SAI) as a newly formed labor standard that responds to the need of MNC’s code of conduct. Their website: http://www. sa-intl. org/index. cfm? fuseaction=Page. viewPage=473 11 Dara O’Rourke (2001, 2004), an urban planning professor at U C Berkeley, has shown that there has been a problem in implementing the CSR code to the workshop level and the code’s impacts on workshops’ working condition and safety may be not as expected. 8 uppliers’ workers. This is because of the existing monitoring problems at the implementation level . 12 There may be two basic problems at the supplier level. First, the suppliers may not want to comply with the procedure that the MNCs require (AMRC, 2004, 65; Jiang, 2009). There are many measures from suppliers to MNCs’ CSRCs. Second, the â€Å"social auditing† monitoring procedures may be biased and possibly diluted by suppliers’ measures (O’Rourke, 2002). 13 Auditors sometimes leave out some important factors during their investigations (See O†™Rourke, 2000, 2001, 2002). 4 This leads to agency problems associated with CG approach to the CSRC (Goodpaster, 1991; Winn, 2001). In the CG approach, there is high monitoring cost and information asymmetry among stakeholders, especially between local suppliers and the MNCs. 15 In this regard, the CSR movement also encountered challenges about its validity at the theoretical and implementation levels. 16 To validate the theoretical discussion, the testable hypotheses are as follows: H1: If the CSRC is â€Å"good† for workplace conditions, then we should see suppliers with CSRC that have better labor conditions than â€Å"no CSRC† factories.H2: In addition, if a different CSRC content has a different effect, we should expect a systematic difference among CSRC firms. H3: Moreover, if the CSRC suffers from opportunism, different measures to get around the CSRC at the subcontract level may affect CSRC effects. 12 In fact, a number of â€Å"social auditors† have b een created in response to the new â€Å"demand† from MNC. However, the incentive for these auditors to reveal the true situation at the workshop level is in doubt (O'Rourke, 2000). 13 The Designs of Codes vary greatly across companies and industries.For example, the World Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production (WRAP) certification requested that the independent monitors be paid by the company under investigation. That causes serious doubt of the independency of auditor. Also, there is no requirement to interview workers during the factory investigation (Jenkins, 2002: 26). 14 O’Rourke (2002) investigates the social auditing process of Pricewaterhouse Coopers in a garment factory in Shanghai. Pricewaterhouse Coopers used a standard factory monitor process for factory management, but not for workers.He also shows that there may be management bias and flaw reporting on the auditing process. The management bias includes failures to collect information from workers and f ailures to access restraints on freedom of association. 15 Dubinsky (2002) documented the garment worker of suppliers in L. A. for GUESS. While the CSRC in GUESS was intended to enhance workers’ condition, the workers interviewed reveal no material improvement in their working conditions and were threatened and penalized when they speak out. 6 For more information of the consultants for CSR code, please visit: http://www. thecsrgroup. com/ 9 H4: Finally, if CSRC can increase transaction cost of opportunism at the supplier side, more CSRC would reduce the effect of opportunism. To assess the validity of these hypotheses, this study employs data generated from a random survey of workers from 12 suppliers of branded toy MNCs in Shenzhen and evaluates the CSRC effect using a unidimensional item response theory model. The following section describes the survey and the methodology of this study. . Survey and Methodology This section will discuss the survey and the methodology used this study. Section 3. 1 provides details on the survey design and the sample frame. Section 3. 2 compares the CSR code of conduct of branded companies with the mandate of the International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI) and International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions. Section 3. 3 provides a ranking of CSRC tasks in terms of level of difficulty. Section 3. 4 demonstrates the methodology used in this study. 3. The survey The survey was conducted at the Shenzhen and Dongguan areas in Southern China, both highly concentrated with labor-intensive industries, in particular, toy factories. 17 The survey, which took place from June 2006 to March 2007, focused on the toy industry’s CSRC. To systematically examine the impact of CSRC on labor conditions, this survey first used the industrial phone book and identified a sampling frame before the randomized selection of 12 toy factories in Shenzhen and Dongguan areas at Southern China.The selection of the sample is as follows: Their size should be comparable (usually around 1000 workers in each factory). This study identified 10 code factories within which there were eight suppliers with single CSR (Mattel, McDonald’s, Disney, Wal-Mart) and two suppliers with two CSRCs (Disney & Wal-Mart, Mattel, and Wal-Mart). The survey also included two suppliers with similar technologies that produce only for the domestic market as a comparison group. Twenty 17 Please see Appendix 1 for the background of the setting, toy industry in China, and the reasons for choosing the sites in this study. 0 workers at the entry level were interviewed in each factory, and all the workers were interviewed anonymously. 18 A total of 240 workers were surveyed in this study. 19 3. 2 A Comparison of Corporate Social Responsibility Codes of Conduct Table 1 shows a comparison between the statements of the study firms’ CSRC, the International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI) and the International Labor Organization’s c onventions according to publicly available information. The first column shows ILO conventions that are very detailed and cover the labor conditions mentioned.However, the ILO conventions operate at the state level. That is, unless a state signed the conventions, ILO convention restrictions would not be imposed at the local level. The ICTI codes at the association level and other firms’ CSRC followed the ILO conventions, but with less detail. 20 Table 1 is divided into the following sections: violation of law, bargaining rights and freedom of association, workshop safety and living environment, and monitoring procedures. In terms of violation of law, all the codes indicated that there should no child labor under 14 years of age and no forced labor.However, with the exception of the ICTI code, no individual CSRC mentions maternity leave. As for the section on labor bargaining rights and freedom of association, Disney shows its respect for rights for association and collective bargaining, while the ICTI and Wal-Mart show respect for rights of association only. With regard to safety and living environment, Mattel’s CSRC shows the most detailed description, followed by the ICTI; Disney and McDonald’s CSRCs show similar content and are less detailed than those of Mattel and ICTI. Wal-Mart’s CSRC shows the least detail in this aspect.For the monitoring mechanism, the ICTI CSRC mentioned auditing at the initial stage and in production, as well as a follow-up auditing during the production cycle. The ICTI also mentioned that the factory audit could review the employment record, books, and interview worker privately and the audit could be unannounced to reduce the opportunism. While no individual CSRC gives such detailed monitoring mechanism description, Disney makes it clear that they can review records and books, and suppliers cannot subcontract their work further. McDonald’s mentions that the supplier’s management 18Understa nding that suppliers may have pressure to workers not to reveal the true factory information to strangers, I have instructed the surveyors to talk to perspective workers and develop trust between each other. Surveyors would explain the survey purpose and ask the agreement of perspective respondents. The survey is conducted outside of the factory areas, usually at local restaurant during workers’ lunch time, to eliminate influence from suppliers. 19 The survey questionnaire can be provided upon request. 20 More detailed descriptions of the CSRC for ICTI can be found in its website: http://www. toyicti. rg/info/codeofbusinesspractices. html. 11 should put an effort to monitor the CSRC standard, and show that the auditor can enter workers’ dormitory and interview the workers. Among other CSRCs, only Wal-Mart shows that it has increased efforts to monitor the suppliers in both announced and unannounced factory audits. Mattel, however, does not show any monitoring informati on to public. In a nutshell, individual firms’ CSRC could be very different and their monitoring efforts may differ from earlier observations. The next section offers basic observations about the ranking of the difficulty CSRC tasks from a survey of 12 factories. 12Table 1: A comparision of Toy Industries' Corporate Social Responsibility Code of Codes with ILO convent International Labor Organization (ILO) convent International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI) Violation of Law child labor (;15 yrs) (C59) minimum age of 14 * under age labor (;16 yrs) No Maternity leave (C3) maternity benefits as provided by law Illegal Over Time work (C1) (C6) ( C41) (171) by law Forced Labor (C29, C105) Labor Bargaining Rights and Freedom of Association Bargaining Rights (C98) Bargaining Channel Employee Association (C87) Compliant to Client Labor Union (C87) Labor department Use Collective Bargain (C154) Strike Use Safety nd Living Environment Fire Safety (C155) Workshop Safety (C155) Food p roblem Live environment problem other problem no discrimination (C111) compensation Coercion and Harassment notification to employee monitor and inspection: Unannouned Factory Audit no forced or prison labor is employed Disney 15 yrs (but 14 yrs if law allowed) Mattel specified by country's law McDonald 15 yrs (but 14 yrs if law allowed) yes, only if no schooling 60hr/week, 1 day/week off no forced labor Wal-Mart not allow >14 yrs old 48/week +12 hr OT, 1/week day off except special business circumstances no forced labor overtime must be voluntary and documented, rest days with local law payroll deductions must comply with law and mattel requirment 72hr/6days, 14/24hrs no forced labor freel employee representation by local law upplier need to respect right for association lawful union activities supplier need to respect right for Collective Bargain lawful collective bargain in lawful and peasceful manner, without penalty, interference supplier need to respect right for association e mergency exits, trained emergency evacuation; machinery safeguards >= local laws and employees trained facilities or appropriate provisions for meals and other breaks housing, rooms, sanitary facilities meet basic needs; ventilated, fire safety by local laws toilet facilities meet local hygiene requirements , and are properly maintained standards set by law fire safety adequate lighting and ventilation potable drinkng water, sanitary facilites, health and safety housing envriomental friendly race, color, gender, religion, disability with the local law or local standard, choose the higher one rogram and system for fires, spills and natural disasters, emergency exit unlocked have programs to address health and safety, first aid, medical treatment canteens must be safe, sanitary, meet basic needs dormitories must be safe, sanitary, meet basic needs minimize environmental impact fire exit esential safety equipment, first aid kit, emergency care potable drinkng water, adequate, clean res trooms, appropriately-lit work station race, color, gender, religion, disability with the local law no unhealth and hazardous enviroment nontoxic material, envrionmental friendly race, color, gender, religion, disability with the local law legally mandated rates eed to have local lanuage post the CSR terms to employee 1 to 2 factory manager shall be monitor the compliance of standard yes yes, review employment record and books, yes, but no number specified, 26% of 16000 in 2006 (6% increase) can go to housing accommodations can go to housing accommodations others Audit inculdes: Initial , Follow-up, In-Production. no further subcontractor can be used. can private interviews with employees >16000 audit for 8873 suppliers in 2006 Source: International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions, International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI), The Walt Disney Company Code of Conduct for Manufactures, Mattel, Inc. Global Manufacturing Principles, McDonald's Code of Coduct for Suppliers, Wal-Ma rt Stores, Inc.Standard for Suppliers *but notwithstanding the foregoing, that C138 Minimum Age Convention (1973) and C182 Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention (1999) of the International Labor Organization apply Code posted or available for all employees in local language. need to have local lanuage post the CSR terms to employee 13 3. 3 Ranking the difficulty of CSRC tasks Before going into the methodological analysis, let us examine the level of the labor problem from the survey data. This survey considers each labor problem as a task for the supplier to accomplish. The seriousness of each labor problem can be considered as the level of difficulty to accomplish the task. Table 2 shows the percentage of all respondents saying â€Å"the task is a problem† = â€Å"1† and â€Å"the task is not a problem† = â€Å"0. 21 The larger the mean in the variable, the greater the number of respondents who answered â€Å"1,† and the more problem is perceived in tha t task. The variations in these variable means are large. All the respondents cited â€Å"1† in response to â€Å"Union,† which had a mean of â€Å"1†. This is considered to be the â€Å"most difficult problem. † The two other â€Å"most difficult problems† are â€Å"complaint to client† and â€Å"labor association,† with 99% and 98%, respectively, with â€Å"1† on average. As only few respondents raise â€Å"other problems†, its mean is the lowest at 2% on average, which indicates that suppliers consider this the â€Å"easiest problem†. Table 2: Corporate Social Responsibility Tasks' Diffculty level Item Obs Mean Std. Dev.Min Labor Bargaining and Association Rights Labor Union 240 1. 00 0. 00 1 0. 99 Complaint to Client 240 0. 11 0 Employee Association 240 0. 98 0. 14 0 Bargaining Rights 238 0. 45 0. 50 0 Bargaining Channel 240 0. 73 0. 45 0 Labor department Use 240 0. 48 0. 50 0 Collective Bargain 240 0. 96 0. 1 9 0 Strike Use 240 0. 62 0. 49 0 Violation of Law child labor (>14 yrs) 238 0. 11 0. 31 0 under age labor (>16 yrs) 238 0. 34 0. 47 0 No Maternity leave 238 0. 82 0. 39 0 Illegal Over Time work 238 0. 85 0. 36 0 Safety and Living Environment Fire Safety 235 0. 03 0. 18 0 Workshop Safety 235 0. 26 0. 44 0 Food problem 235 0. 83 0. 38 0 Live environment problem 235 0. 29 0. 46 0 0. 02 other problem 235 0. 3 0 Note: the respond â€Å"1† means â€Å"the task is a problem,† while â€Å"0† means â€Å"the task is not a problem† in respondent's factory. â€Å"labor union† has 100% respond â€Å"1† and that mean it is the â€Å"hardest problem† for suppliers. â€Å"other problem† has 2% respond with â€Å"0† and is considered to be the most â€Å"easiest problem† for suppliers. Max 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 21 Please see Appendix 2 for a detailed breakdown of the labor condition distribution. 14 3. 4 Methodology T able 2 presents the distribution of the CSRC task and the problem perceived. However, both the respondents’ knowledge of the problem and the suppliers’ characteristics may bias the analysis of CSRC effect on labor conditions.The respondents’ knowledge and the suppliers’ effort to implement CSRC are, however, unobservable. To correct these unobservable biases and obtain a consistent estimate of the likelihood of suppliers’ problem, this methodology section proposes to use the unidimensional item response theory (UIRT) (or the Rasch) model. In general, the item response theory (IRT) is a body of theories describing the application of mathematical models to data from questionnaires and tests as a basis for measuring abilities, attitudes, or other variables. 22 The IRT model is based on the idea that the probability of getting an item correct is a function of a latent trait or ability. The UIRT model is a member of IRT family which applies to dichotomo us data. 3 The UIRT model is usually used in test analysis, which can analyze the relative difficulty level of an examination question by removing the individual (the examinee’s) unobservable influence on the answer of the question. It is used for statistical analysis and development of assessments, often for high-stake tests such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). 24 Using the GRE as example, a person with higher intelligence would more likely be able to correctly respond to a question in an intelligence test. This study introduces UIRT model to evaluate the impacts of CSRC on labor conditions. The UIRT model in this study estimates the probability of a worker getting a positive response in a list of the ifferent tasks by taking into account each task’s difficulty level and the different abilities, knowledge, 22 IRT models apply mathematical functions that specify the probability of a discrete outcome, such as a correct response to an item, in terms of person a nd item parameters. Person parameters may, for example, represent the ability of a student or the strength of a person's attitude. Item parameters include difficulty (location), discrimination (slope or correlation), and pseudoguessing (lower asymptote). Items may be questions that have incorrect or correct responses, as well as statements that allow respondents to indicate the level of agreement. 3 In general, the UIRT model estimates these outcomes using two types of predictors – a person’s ability and the test item’s difficulty level. A person’s ability and the test item’s difficulty level are given as â€Å"X† in the right side of the equation. â€Å"Y† is a person’s response to a test item (or a survey item) and is given on the left side of the equation. 24 Among other methods, IRT provides a basis for evaluating how well assessments and individual questions on assessment work. In education, psychometricians apply IRT to a chieve tasks as developing and refining exams, maintaining banks of items for exams, and equating the difficulties of successive versions of exams (for example, to allow comparisons between results over time). 15 nd willingness level of each respondent and individual supplier. The UIRT model is particularly useful in this study because this model can effectively take into account an individual’s knowledge of the problem and each supplier’s willingness to carry out the task. With the estimated outcomes on hand, one can compare the relative difficulty level of any task by using the easiest task (or the hardest task) that suppliers could fulfill. The last section shows that the â€Å"other problem† is the easiest problem among others; this study will therefore use the â€Å"other problem† as the basis for the relative difficulty in ranking problems in the statistical analysis. 25In our context, the UIRT model is defined as follows: Let us consider a sample o f individuals who answer the survey as if taking a test, and assume the probability, Pij , that worker i’s answer â€Å"yes† (or â€Å"1†) responds to task j and depends only on a parameter, ai , representing the respondent’s ability (which can represent the joint outcome of a worker level understanding of the firm and other factors such as suppliers’ characteristics) and another parameter, b j , representing the difficulty level of the task attempted. Assume further that for some monotone transformation, M. M ( P ) = ai ? b j ij (1) for all i and j. The odds of getting a task right decreases with task’s difficulty (and thus the minus sign before b j ). That is, an additive representation is postulated for the suitably transformed probabilities, Pij . When M is the inverse logistic transformation,M ( Pij ) = ln( Pij ) = ai ? b j 1 ? Pij (2) (ln is the natural logarithm), we have UIRT model. 25 We can also use â€Å"union† as a base to obtain a more precise estimation of the probability of getting a task â€Å"right† as the responses are all zeros. As this article focuses on the relative difficulty level of tasks, it is reasonable to use the easiest task as the base. 16 The UIRT model has certain very desirable statistical properties for the estimation of these parameters. With the UIRT model, this grouping method can be approximated to estimate parameters. 26 We can then compare the estimated M ( Pij ) to determine the relative difficulty level of each task. robability of getting a particular task with â€Å"1† can also be calculated The as: exp( M ( Pij )) /(1 + exp( M ( Pij ))) . 27 With these desirable properties of the UIRT model, this study can allow different groupings of CSRC and evaluate their effects on labor conditions by comparing the parameters. 4. Results 4. 1 Basic Result Table 3 shows the benchmark model that pooled all the factories together to investigate the overall picture of lab or conditions using the UIRT model and the â€Å"other problem† as the basis of comparisons. As shown in Table 2, response â€Å"0† means the worker thinks that there is â€Å"no problem† with a particular task, while â€Å"1† means the task â€Å"has problem†.Therefore, using the estimated coefficients, the â€Å"union† coefficients serve as the upper bound and the â€Å"other problem† as the lowest bound; the interpretation of the coefficient is therefore an assessment of the relative significance of the problem against â€Å"union† and â€Å"other problem. † That is, when a task has similar significance as the â€Å"union,† it means that the task is â€Å"very difficult† for suppliers, while a task that is not significantly different from the â€Å"other problem†, it means that the task is also an â€Å"easy problem† for suppliers. Table 3 shows (from left), the fixed effect model, the fixe d effect with probability weighted, and the random effect model, respectively. All the models have passed their test of specification. Comparing 26Specifically, it can be shown (Lord & Novick, 1968, p. 429) that a respondent’s raw score (number of tasks correct) is a minimal sufficient statistic for his/her ability. This leads to a practical implementation of the model in that statistical estimates of abilities and item parameters can be obtained by proceeding as if everyone with the same raw score has exactly the same ability. The parameter estimates are commonly computed using conditional maximum likelihood CMLE and yield consistent estimates of item parameters (Andersen, 1973). 27 Obviously, the Pij is unobservable, as are ability and item parameters. Estimates of the Pij (and, hence, the ai and b j could be obtained if it were possible to give a respondent the same question about a task on repeated occasions, and his/her responses were independent over trials. Clearly, th is is not possible. Alternatively, the probabilities could be estimated if a worker with similar ability could be identified. Assuming a group of people with the same ability, as individuals respond to items independently, the observed proportion of individuals within the group who respond positively to task j is an estimate of the probability that any given person from that group passes the task. 17 the fixed effect model and the model with probability weighted, the ranking of variables’ coefficients is in the same order. There is no qualitative difference between the two models.In fact, the coefficient value and the ranking are identical between the fixed effect model in the first column and the random effect model in the third column, suggesting that heterogeneity is not a problem and the random effect model is not necessary. 28 Therefore, this study will be based on the fixed effect model for extended models in the subsequent sections. â€Å"Union,† â€Å"complain t to client,† and â€Å"employee association† are the top three difficult tasks for suppliers. The estimated probability of union, complaint to client, and employee association in the fixed effect model is 1, 0. 9998, and 0. 9996, respectively, suggesting a 100%, 99. 98%, and 99. 96% chance of getting these tasks with a problem. These estimated probabilities are very consistent with the statistics in Table 2. This reflects that CSRC may not be very helpful for labor union and freedom of association activities.All the tasks in the model are positively and significantly different from the â€Å"other problem,† suggesting that these problems warrant our attention, except the fire safety problem. The reason why the fire safety problem is not frequently cited as a problem may be attributed to the fact that after a fatal factory fire in Shenzhen area in the early 1990s, a workshop-level fire safety law has been introduced. Since then, labor NGOs and the local governmen t have paid attention to fire safety in workplaces. 29 After a brief overview about the problem with the pooled data, the next section tests hypotheses about the effectiveness of the different CSRCs and the problem of opportunism at the supplier level. 28When reading across the columns, one should avoid directly comparing the coefficients among different models as the assumptions are different. However, we can focus on the relative importance of variables in each model. 29 For a detailed discussion about the labor movement and the history about the event, read AMRC (2004: 41-82). 18 Table 3: Unidimensional Item Response Model for Labor Conditions Fixed Effect Item Coef. Labor Bargaining and Association Rights Union 22. 71 (1. 82) Complaint to Client 8. 37 (0. 9) Employee Association 7. 85 (0. 76) Bargaining Rights 3. 87 (0. 61) Bargaining Channel 5. 03 (0. 59) Labor department Use 3. 99 (0. 58) Collective Bargain 7. 25 (0. 73) Strike Use 4. 54 (0. ) Violation of Law Child labor (>14 yrs) 1. 96 (0. 6) Under age labor (>16 yrs) 3. 38 (0. 61) Maternity leave 5. 51 (0. 62) Illegal Over Time work 5. 74 (0. 63) Safety and Living Environment Fire Safety 0. 71 (0. 7) Workshop Safety 3. 01 (0. 61) Food problem 5. 58 (0. 65) Live environment problem 3. 18 (0. 61) constent Number of obs F( 16, 239) Prob > F Pseudo R2 Linktest: _hat 4045. 00 10551. 86 0. 00 0. 49 0. 00 1. 00 P>|z| 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 Fixed Effect with p-weighted Coef. P>|z| 28. 30 (0. 59) 10. 70 (0. 92) 10. 52 (0. 78) 4. 72 (0. 61) 6. 14 (0. 61) 5. 09 (0. 6) 9. 39 (0. 75) 5. 33 (0. 61) 2. 56 (0. 66) 4. 03 (0. 61) 6. 2 (0. 62) 7. 99 (0. 67) 1. 58 (0. 78) 4. 47 (0. 61) 7. 28 (0. 65) 4. 74 (0. 62) 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 Random Effect Coef. 29. 19 (9. 73) 8. 44 (0. 9) 7. 92 (0. 76) 3. 88 (0. 61) 5. 05 (0. 6) 3. 99 (0. 58) 7. 31 (0. 72) 4. 56 (0. 6) 1. 96 (0. 6) 3. 38 (0. 61) 5. 55 (0. 62) 5. 79 (0. 63) 0. 71 (0. 7) 3. 01 (0. 61) 5. 62 (0. 65) 3. 18 (0. 61) 4. 06 (0. 58) 4045. 00 F( 16, 239) Prob > F /lnsig2u P>|z| 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 31 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 04 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 31 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 4045. 00 88251. 79 0. 0 0. 55 1. 00 (0. 13) 0. 00 (0. 01) 0. 00 1. 00 1. 00 (0. 13) _hatsq 0. 00 (0. 01) Other Problem is the basis for the comparison Jacknife standard error in parenthesis 60. 68 0. 00 -4. 55 (0. 29) sigma_u 0. 10 (0. 02) Prob >= chibar2 0. 40 Likelihood-ratio test 0. 08 19 4. 2 Which CSR code is better? As shown in Table 1, different branded companies may have differences in the CSRC statement. This section aims to evaluate the effect of an individual brand company’s CSRC on labor conditions and to understand the relationships between company’s CSRC statement and CSRC outcomes. Table 4 shows the UIRT model for labor conditions by different CSRCs.As there are suppliers with more than one CSRC, this study will pool suppliers with same CSRC to estimate the difficulty level of relative tasks. For example, as the survey has one supplier with Disney only but two suppliers with Disney & Wal-Mart, this study combines these three supplier data into the UIRT model. As discussed in the methodology section, the UIRT model can then essentially extract the common information from these Disney suppliers and investigate the aggregated â€Å"Disney CSRC effect. † Table 4 ranks the CSRC according to the number of tasks similar to the difficulty level of â€Å"union,† descending from left (the easiest task) to right (the most difficult task).In Table 4, columns 1 to 5 show suppliers with a larger number of problems and the lowest number of problems similar to the difficulty level of the problem â€Å"union. † They are non-CSRC suppliers (with 6 problems), McDonald’s (5 problems), Mattel (2 problems), Disney (2 problems), and Wal-Mart (with 0 problem). The first obser vation is that the most serious problems are concentrated on â€Å"labor bargaining and association rights†. When focusing on individual CSRC in this section, the â€Å"non-CSRC† suppliers in cited in the first column show that five tasks have the same difficulty level as union. In contrast, there are no such tasks for the Wal-Mart suppliers, suggesting that they may commit less serious labor bargaining and association rights problems.While we focus on the tasks with the lowest bound of difficulty, Disney suppliers may have more (6 tasks) tasks that are insignificantly different from the â€Å"other problem. † This means that Disney’s suppliers may be less likely to have labor bargaining and association problems. Why so? Can the mission statements of CSRC give some useful information? As Table 1 shows, Disney’s mission statement provides a more detailed description than other CSRCs with respect to the labor bargaining and association problems. Howe ver, while there is no explicit statement about labor bargaining and association problems in the McDonald’s CSRC, its suppliers are more likely to commit violations over other CSRCs, as shown in the second column of Table 4. On 20 he whole, it seems that the CSRC could have some positive impacts on labor bargaining and association problems, and the effects would be dependent on the details of the CSRC statements. 30 Let us now discuss the violation of laws. While the non-CSRC suppliers may have serious problems regarding maternity leave, McDonald’s suppliers may have serious problems with illegal overtime work when compared with the labor union problem. This is consistent with McDonald’s CSRC statement – the most concise among other CSRCs – on illegal overtime work. When focusing on the insignificant problem, an interesting pattern emerged: the tasks that are not as serious as â€Å"other problems† are inversely distributed along the columns , except for Wal-Mart suppliers.Disney suppliers continually outperform other CSRCs with no tasks considered significant, while Wal-Mart suppliers show significance in all the tasks. While Table 1 does not show any significant difference between Wal-Mart’s CSRC compared to the other CSRC in this issue, the results may be affected by the fact that these suppliers do not produce goods only for Wal-Mart. The next subsection analyzes the number of CSRCs and its the impact on labor conditions. In terms of safety and living environment issues, all suppliers under this study do not indicate significant problems on fire safety. However, the non-CSRC suppliers are consistently worse than other suppliers in terms of workshop safety and food problem.Indeed, food seems to be a common problem among suppliers, except for Disney suppliers. Consistent with results in labor bargaining and association rights, Disney suppliers outperform other CSRC suppliers because no task is significantly dif ferent from the â€Å"other problem. † In all the three sections, Disney suppliers continually outperform other CSRCs. This result seems to be consistent with Disney’s CSRC statement, shown in Table 1. Some suppliers work for more than one CSRC, which may mean more transaction costs in avoiding the CSRC. It is interesting to explore how the number of CSRCs affect firms. 30 Certainly, we can just observe the CSRC statement, but efforts to enforce the statement terms are unobservable.As discussed in the methodology section, the UIRT model is a tool to remove unobservable influences and obtain consistent estimates of the difficulty level of tasks. 21 Table 4: Unidimensional Item Response Model for Labor Conditions by different CSR code No CSR code McDonald's Mattel Item Coef. P;|t| Coef. P;|t| Coef. P;|t| Labor Bargaining and Association Rights Union 42. 38 0. 00 41. 63 0. 00 19. 98 0. 00 (4. 33) (4. 15) (3. 01) Complaint to Client 42. 38 0. 00 41. 63 0. 00 5. 53 0. 00 (4 . 33) (4. 15) (0. 94) 42. 38 41. 63 19. 98 Employee Association 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 (4. 33) (4. 15) (3. 01) Bargaining Rights 42. 38 0. 00 -0. 03 0. 26 0. 28 0. 77 (4. 33) (0. 03) (0. 3) Bargaining Channel 42. 38 0. 00 21. 30 0. 00 19. 98 0. 00 (4. 33) (2. 27) (3. 01) Labor department Use 0. 00 0. 87 20. 67 0. 00 2. 69 0. 00 (0. 00) (2. 01) (0. 68) Collective Bargain 42. 38 0. 00 41. 63 0. 00 4. 80 0. 00 (4. 33) (4. 15) (0. 89) Strike Use 20. 77 0. 00 41. 63 0. 00 1. 48 0. 05 (2. 30) (4. 15) (0. 74) Violation of Law Child labor (;14 yrs) Under age labor (;16 yrs) Maternity leave Illegal Over Time work 0. 00 (0. 00) 19. 92 (1. 77) 42. 38 (4. 33) 0. 87 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 -0. 03 (0. 03) -0. 03 (0. 03) 21. 92 (2. 44) 41. 63 (4. 15) 0. 00 (0. 00) 0. 00 (0. 00) 21. 84 (2. 43) 0. 26 0. 26 0. 00 0. 00 0. 28 (0. 93) 0. 51 (0. 9) 3. 83 (0. 77) 5. 23 (0. 99) 0. 30 (0. 93) 2. 29 (0. 78) 4. 01 (0. 88) 0. 77 0. 57 0. 00 0. 00 Disney Coef. 23. 12 (13. 27) 23. 12 (13. 27) 6. 32 (13. 94) 4. 63 (14. 02) 3. 24 (14. 00) 4. 87 (13. 94) 8. 00 (19. 73) 23. 12 (13. 27) 2. 94 (13. 92) 4. 48 (14. 02) 6. 49 (14. 24) 5. 35 (14. 05) 1. 13 (14. 02) 3. 27 (14. 01) 7. 97 (28. 15) P;|t| 0. 09 0. 09 0. 65 0. 74 0. 82 0. 73 0. 69 0. 09 0. 83 0. 75 0. 65 0. 71 21. 01 (1. 94) Safety and Living Environment Fire Safety Workshop Safety Food problem 0. 00 (0. 00) 21. 01 (1. 94) 20. 89 (1. 91) 0. 87 0. 00 0. 00 0. 34 0. 31 0. 00 0. 75 0. 01 0. 00 0. 94 0. 82 22 0. 78 4. 3 Is more CSRC better?This section focuses on the number of CSRCs: if more CSRCs increase transaction costs for suppliers, which in turn results in violations of the CSRC, then there should be less violation with regard to labor conditions as the number of CSRCs increases. Table 5 shows the UIRT model for labor conditions according to the number of CSR code. The nonCSRC supplier column is the same as in Table 4, while the â€Å"1 CSRC† column has a pool of suppliers with a single CSRC and â€Å"2 CSRC† suppliers include Matt el ; Wal-Mart and Disney ; Wal-Mart. The pattern of violations in labor conditions in Table 8 is consistent with the hypothesis that more CSRCs is better to control opportunism at the suppliers’ level; the suppliers of 2 CSRCs constantly outperform the 1 CSRC suppliers and the non-CSRC suppliers on the control of labor conditions.For example, in terms of labor bargaining and association rights, the number of tasks with a similar significant coefficient as union is 5 in â€Å"No CSRC† suppliers, 2 in â€Å"1 CSRC† supplier, and none in â€Å"2 CSRC† suppliers. All the estimation results in â€Å"violation of law† and â€Å"safety and living environment† show that the tasks relative to coefficients are reduced as the number of CSRC increases. These results are consistent with the perspective that an increase in the number of CSRCs may increase the transaction costs of opportunism at the suppliers’ level. However, suppliers may also have measures to reduce governance effects from CSRC. The effects of different measures of opportunism are investigated in the next section. 23 24Table 5: Unidimensional Item Response Model for Labor Conditions by number of CSR code No CSR code 1 CSR code 2 CSR codes Item Coef. P;|t| Coef. P;|t| Coef. Labor Bargaining and Association Rights Union 42. 38 0. 00 39. 19 0. 00 19. 40 (4. 33) (0. 31) (3. 12) Complaint to Client 42. 38 0. 00 39. 19 0. 00 6. 11 (4. 33) (0. 31) (0. 89) Employee Association 42. 38 0. 00 39. 19 0. 00 5. 57 (4. 33) (0. 31) (0. 76) Bargaining Rights 42. 38 0. 00 19. 10 0. 00 2. 02 (4. 33) (0. 26) (0. 67) Bargaining Channel 42. 38 0. 00 20. 14 0. 00 3. 92 (4. 33) (0. 20) (0. 64) Labor department Use 0. 00 0. 87 19. 73 0. 00 3. 51 (0. 00) (0. 25) (0. 58) Collective Bargain 42. 38 0. 00 23. 61 0. 00 5. 21 (4. 33) (0. 98) (0. 6) Strike Use 20. 77 0. 00 20. 24 0. 00 3. 51 (2. 30) (0. 26) (0. 64) Violation of Law Child labor (;14 yrs) Under age labor (;16 yrs) Maternity l eave Illegal Over Time work Safety and Living Environment Fire Safety Workshop Safety Food problem Live environment problem 0. 00 (0. 00) 21. 01 (1. 94) 20. 89 (1. 91) 0. 87 0. 00 0. 00 0. 87 15. 47 (0. 87) 14. 77 (14. 65) 22. 30 (0. 42) 18. 70 (0. 23) 2030. 00 0. 64 0. 00 0. 32 0. 00 0. 00 0. 43 (0. 76) 2. 98 (0. 68) 4. 48 (0. 79) 2. 72 (0. 67) 1335. 00 0. 40 0. 00 (0. 00) 19. 92 (1. 77) 42. 38 (4. 33) 21. 01 (1. 94) 0. 87 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 17. 05 (0. 41) 19. 27 (0. 24) 20. 85 (0. 24) 24. 31 (15. 01) 0. 0 0. 00 0. 00 0. 11 1. 61 (0. 64) 1. 76 (0. 67) 4. 07 (0. 67) 4. 30 (0. 70) P;|t| 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 01 0. 01 0. 00 0. 00 0. 57 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 (0. 00) Number of obs 680. 00 Pseudo R2 0. 84 Other Problem is the basis for the comparison Jacknife standard error in parenthesis 4. 4 Suppliers’ Measures to circumvent CSRC auditing 25 When considering other transaction costs of governing with the CSRC, suppliers may apply different strategies to get around the CSRC auditing. Because most CSRC auditing would give advance notice to suppliers, suppliers would have room for measures to circumvent the auditing.This study has documented some of the common supplier measures to circumvent CSRC auditing: fire drill, trained question, giving a holiday, cleaning the factory, and safety drill. Certainly, suppliers may use more than one measure to get around the CSRC auditing; it is likely that suppliers with more labor problems would use more measures to cover up their problems. This section first looks at the number of measures that may be associated with labor problems. We then investigate how the different measures affect labor conditions. Table 6 shows the UIRT model for the number of measures to circumvent CSRC auditing. The first column of Table 6 shows the result of â€Å"no measure. A response of â€Å"no measure† to circumvent CSRC auditing is associated with no significant measures that are different from â€Å"o ther problem,† suggesting that a supplier without any measure for CSRC auditing is performing relatively well in terms of labor conditions. The second column, i. e. , â€Å"one measure† to circumvent CSRC auditing, shows a very different pattern. Although no task is as difficult as the union problem, all tasks show a significant coefficient, except the fire safety problem. The third column, â€Å"two or more measures,† indicates an even stronger coefficient in all the tasks than the column with one measure. Furthermore, the task â€Å"complaint to client† is as strong as â€Å"union† in this column.When comparing the three columns in Table 6, it appears that the more the measures suppliers use, the higher the likelihood they commit more labor problems. This is consistent with the transaction cost hypothesis that opportunism may increase the transaction cost of governing with the CSRC. It is not necessary that all measures have an equal effect on lab or problems. The next section shows the effect of individual measure of CSRC auditing on labor problems. 26 Table 6: Unidimensional Item Response Model for Labor Conditions by Number of Supplier's Measure No Measure One Measure Two or More Measures Item Labor Bargaining and Association Rights Union 19. 88 0. 22 20. 47 0. 0 34. 57 0. 00 (15. 58) (3. 66) (4. 30) Complaint to Client 5. 35 0. 79 7. 34 0. 00 34. 57 0. 00 (19. 88) (1. 20) (4. 30) Employee Association 5. 35 0. 79 7. 34 0. 00 20. 80 0. 00 (20. 03) (1. 21) (2. 85) Bargaining Rights 1. 64 0. 92 2. 40 0. 00 17. 16 0. 00 (15. 09) (0. 77) (2. 19) Bargaining Channel 3. 47 0. 82 4. 24 0. 00 17. 84 0. 00 (14. 91) (0. 74) (2. 13) Labor department Use 3. 20 0. 83 3. 85 0. 00 17. 42 0. 00 (14. 89) (0. 71) (2. 17) Collective Bargain 19. 88 0. 22 6. 63 0. 00 19. 85 0. 00 (15. 58) (1. 03) (2. 30) Strike Use 2. 94 0. 85 3. 78 0. 00 18. 47 0. 00 (15. 15) (0. 73) (2. 18) Violation of Law Child labor (>14 yrs) -14. 1 0. 34 1. 26 0. 09 15. 87 0. 00 (14. 61) (0. 74) (2. 18) Under age labor (>16 yrs) 2. 24 0. 88 2. 59 0. 00 16. 91 0. 00 (15. 11) (0. 77) (2. 12) Maternity leave 2. 77 0. 86 4. 60 0. 00 18. 89 0. 00 (15. 14) (0. 76) (2. 20) Illegal Over Time work 5. 23 0. 80 6. 39 0. 00 19. 09 0. 00 (19. 94) (1. 06) (2. 26) Safety and Living Environment Fire Safety 0. 00 1. 00 0. 73 0. 40 12. 91 0. 32 (22. 56) (0. 86) (12. 82) Workshop Safety 0. 00 1. 00 2. 03 0. 01 16. 24 0. 00 (22. 56) (0. 78) (2. 09) Food problem 4. 13 0. 79 5. 10 0. 00 21. 50 0. 16 (15. 39) (0. 86) (15. 24) Live environment problem 2. 19 0. 89 2. 67 0. 00 16. 88 0. 00 (15. 10) (0. 77) (2. 2) Number of obs 267. 00 1777. 00 1321. 00 Pseudo R2 0. 52 0. 51 0. 52 Other Problem is the basis for the comparison Jacknife standard error in parenthesis Supplier's measures to circumvent CSRC auditing include fire drill, trained question, giving a holiday, Cleaning the Factory, and Safety Drill. 27 4. 4 Suppliers’ Measures to circumvent CSRC auditing Table 7 s hows the UIRT model for individual measures to circumvent CSRC auditing. The measures in this study include fire drill, safety drill, giving a holiday, trained question, and cleaning the factory. As the safety drill estimation is not converged, Table 10 shows only the four other supplier measures.Table 7 ranks the measures according to the number of the most serious tasks (compared to union) from the left, namely, fire drill (6 tasks), giving a holiday (4 tasks), trained question (0 task), and cleaning the factory (0 task). Why do fire drill suppliers have the most tasks similar to the union coefficient? As discussed in the last subsection, fire safety is one of the most serious areas that the Chinese local authorities are concerned with, and it is the most frequent task to be checked during a factory visit. If a supplier has not even met the basic standard of the fire safety, it is reasonable to infer that other tasks are likely to be a problem as well. This is similar in the case of holidays for workers – meaning that the supplier tries to prohibit workers from revealing this fact.As giving holidays for a busy factory is costly, suppliers are likely to create more than one problem in the task. â€Å"Trained question† is one of the most common ways that suppliers try to get around CSRC auditing during the worker interview. Suppliers try to train workers with â€Å"model answers† that fit the CSRC auditing interview questions. The â€Å"trained question† effect may be very limited as only trained workers model their answers to the interview question, and this cannot cover other the problems in the factory. It is clear that the â€Å"trained question† may have fewer problems than â€Å"fire drill† and â€Å"giving a holiday. † â€Å"Cleaning the factory† was found the least serious measure.Only suppliers who are confident with their labor conditions would use â€Å"cleaning the factory† to polish th eir workshop. 28 Table 7:Unidimensional Item Response Model for Labor Conditions by Supplier's Measure Fire Drill Give Holiday Trained question Cleaning Factory Item Coef. P>|t| Coef. P>|t| Coef. P>|t| Coef. P>|t| Labor Bargaining and Association Rights Union 40. 28 0. 00 39. 74 0. 00 35. 79 0. 00 21. 80 0. 00 (1. 05) (3. 83) (5. 39) (2. 87) Complaint to Client 40. 28 0. 00 39. 74 0. 00 21. 55 0. 00 8. 79 0. 49 (1. 05) (3. 83) (2. 80) (12. 70) Employee Association 40. 28 0. 00 22. 22 0. 24 21. 55 0. 00 7. 68 0. 00 (1. 05) (18. 58) (2. 98) (1. 00) Bargaining Rights 18. 38 0. 29 0. 00 0. 75 17. 88 0. 00 3. 5 0. 00 (14. 33) (0. 00) (2. 78) (0. 75) Bargaining Channel 18. 38 0. 00 39. 74 0. 00 18. 36 0. 00 4. 47 0. 00 (0. 45) (3. 83) (2. 62) (0. 73) Labor department Use 21. 11 0. 00 16. 38 0. 32 18. 07 0. 00 4. 38 0. 00 (0. 61) (16. 06) (2. 69) (0. 71) Collective Bargain 40. 28 0. 00 39. 74 0. 00 20. 60 0. 00 6. 54 0. 00 (1. 05) (3. 83) (2. 81) (0. 85) Strike Use 40. 28 0. 00 17. 62 0. 0 0 19. 30 0. 00 4. 85 0. 00 (1. 05) (1. 31) (2. 88) (0. 74) Violation of Law Child labor (>14 yrs) 0. 00 0. 45 18. 35 0. 00 16. 41 0. 00 2. 01 0. 01 (0. 00) (1. 70) (2. 61) (0. 73) Under age labor (>16 yrs) 18. 38 0. 29 18. 00 0. 00 17. 51 0. 00 3. 33 0. 00 (14. 3) (2. 04) (2. 60) (0. 75) Maternity leave 21. 11 0. 25 22. 22 0. 27 19. 09 0. 00 5. 22 0. 00 (14. 97) (19. 80) (2. 72) (0. 74) Illegal Over Time work 40. 28 0. 00 22. 22 0. 27 19. 85 0. 00 6. 14 0. 00 (1. 05) (19. 80) (2. 72) (0. 85) Safety and Living Environment Fire Safety 0. 00 0. 39 0. 00 0. 75 14. 16 0. 00 0. 72 0. 40 (0. 00) (0. 00) (2. 54) (0. 85) Workshop Safety 0. 00 0. 38 0. 00 0. 75 16. 77 0. 00 2. 84 0. 00 (0. 00) (0. 00) (2. 70) (0. 75) Food problem 40. 28 0. 00 39. 74 0. 00 20. 59 0. 00 6. 11 0. 00 (1. 05) (3. 83) (2. 87) (0. 89) Live environment problem 18. 38 0. 00 21. 51 0. 00 17. 53 0. 00 2. 88 0. 00 (0. 45) (2. 15) (2. 72) (0. 5) Number of obs 85. 00 408. 00 1440. 00 2452. 00 Pseudo R2 0. 83 0. 88 0. 49 0. 50 Other Problem is the basis for the comparison Jacknife standard error in parenthesis except the fire estimation, which indicates standard error in parenthesis. â€Å"Safety Drill† is not converged in estimation. 29 Robustness Check For convenience, the estimation of the UIRT model in Table 7 uses the â€Å"other problem† as a base. However, as the â€Å"other problem† is not exactly along zero in the data, there may be a problem in estimating the â€Å"true probability† of the task. More importantly, there may be problem of the UIRT assumption about the zero covariance among items in the estimation.This robustness check uses the â€Å"union† as a base in Table 8, which reruns the UIRT model in Table 5. If the zero covariance assumption is violated, using the upper bound of the problem, the union, as the base of estimation will give very different results. However, if the zero covariance assumption is not violated, as this estimation uses  "union† as a base, the coefficient will be interpreted exactly opposite to that given in Table 5; those problems with larger and significant coefficients given in Table 5 should now be close to zero and insignificant in Table 8 and vice versa. Most of the coefficients here are negatively signed, suggesting that they are â€Å"weaker† than the union problem.Non-CSRC suppliers are seen to have six problems (complaint to client, employee association, bargaining rights, bargaining channel, collective bargain, and maternity leave), â€Å"1 CSRC† has two problems (complaint to client and emplo